


How to Find True Happiness.

by grossnoona



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: ? well kinda?, Adopted Children, Comfort, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parenthood, Sougo tries to stay above water w a baby on his back, kind of unbeta bc we die like men here, lots of talk abt just growing up and being an adult i feel, save this man hoenstly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2019-10-02 04:23:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17257511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grossnoona/pseuds/grossnoona
Summary: It's a scary jump but Sougo is willing to risk it.His hands are already getting full with adulthood but yet, he feels like as long as he has Tamaki; it'll be okay.Tamaki is some sort of miracle that comes rushing in Sougo's life and he feels a swell of happiness just being with him. Sougo's source of happiness is in the form of his six year old son that can recite the entirety of the Ousama Pudding commercial and he's proud of it.Alternatively known as; Sougo wrestles parenthood and adulthood with a 6 year old in his dinosaur pajamas on his back like a fucking champ.





	1. Experience.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! Grossnoona here!!!  
> Happy new year!!  
> Happy first fic of the year!!  
> Also the first fic?? I've ever written thats for ainana!!!  
> I wrote a baby au with a single parent Sougo and kid Tamaki!!  
> I only wrote this because I spent new years reflecting on the fact that I didn't mind adopting children if I couldn't get one of my own and that there is a bit of a stigma on adopted children where I'm from? esp rich people lol  
> Also I wanted to convey feelings you would probs get from meeting and dealing w children whether you raise them full time or not?  
> Something abt kids make you really feel and see things differently and I felt Mezzo was the best example of conveying those kinds of things since Tamaki is a good kid with just a tough attitude and Sougo would learn alot from raising one like that  
> I don't really have their personalities down so spare me!!! Regardless I hope you enjoy the fic!!

Sougo knew very well that there will be people who would be against it. Why take in an orphan? What good can it be for a child that’s not your own flesh and blood? Many other ways to say it’s not worth it, Sougo has heard from some of his peers when he talked about bringing Tamaki. While Sougo was probably not entirely sure about the idea, he knew one thing.

  


Tamaki is an experience.

  


There’s something about raising a child that makes you see things differently. From the accidents made to the bubbling laughter he makes, all of them contained in that small apartment of theirs. Tamaki was definitely far from what Sougo imagined him to be. Sougo wonders if he ever made the right decision to picking up Tamaki. It’s not like he was prepared for it. He lived alone, the only experiences he had with children were taking care of his nieces and nephews during family reunions, he never really had any idea on how to make a child-proof house; in all honesty, the only things he knew about taking care of children were from Mitsuki who lived with his younger brother a couple of floors down. Even then, it probably isn’t as useful as Sougo hoped it to be since Iori was more obedient than Tamaki could ever be.

  


Sougo feels like he’s getting more than what he bargained for though; Tamaki was nothing like what he expected. Tamaki was loud, brash, naughty and messy. Tamaki was picky with his food, liked running off on his own, sometimes doesn’t listen to Sougo when he warns him about things and even threw tantrums when things don’t go his way. Sougo gets tired and frustrated but then, Tamaki isn’t a bad kid. He’s not a bad kid even though he throws tantrums. He’s not doing things with any ill-intention when he makes a mess in the kitchen. He’s not a horrible person, he’s still just a kid. He doesn’t mean it when he reacts a certain way, Sougo knows that. Sougo can’t really get mad at him for doing certain things.

  


_ “No matter how you look at them; kids are just kids. It’s not their fault for not knowing anything.” _

  


Sougo always tries to remembers Mitsuki’s advice. No matter how you look at Tamaki is only 6, he knows nothing besides his favourite things and that he would never eat broccoli unless their next-door neighbour told him to. Tamaki doesn’t know a lot about social stigma or how dull the world can turn once you start adulthood, the choices to make to live a  _ “good life” _ and many other adult decisions that he probably wouldn’t really need to think about yet. He’s still just a kid; he wouldn’t know why old aunties and uncles stare at him and Sougo funny when they’re out at the groceries. He’ll probably never really understand why some people think he’s weird when he plays with the stray cats outside of the apartment. Sougo wonders if he should ever tell him why. Maybe one day, Sougo would try but he’ll do it slowly.

  


Sougo wonders if Tamaki would ever understand those kinds of things.

  


A part of him worries, a part of him is mad, a part of him is sad about all of those kinds of things. Tamaki never really realises it, maybe he does but pays no mind to it.

  


“Old people like to look at people funny when they’re not like them. I’ve learnt to just ignore them than try to argue with them when they try to stir something up with Iori who’s barely 7,” Mitsuki said to Sougo over coffee when he comes over to let Iori play with Tamaki. They get along well, Iori is afraid to do a lot of things but Tamaki isn’t. Iori likes to teach Tamaki all sorts of things he learns from books and Tamaki tries to keep up as much as possible. It’s cute, Sougo mentions to Mitsuki who laughs about it.

  


Tamaki is a person who likes bringing all sorts of people in Sougo’s life.

  


Not that Sougo didn’t know enough people but he felt it brought all sorts of colors into his life. Sougo knew people but always kept a distance from them, feared of bridging into close attachment and causing trouble that would lead to a bad downfall. Tamaki however doesn’t, he likes talking to their neighbour who plays with him when Sougo gets busy. He happily talks to Mitsuki’s foreign boyfriend who occasionally scares Sougo a little. He bothers the twins from the floor below, chatting until both of their ears will fall off. Tamaki is friendly, Sougo feels awkward when he gets dragged by the younger to meet his new friends.

  


Sougo thinks it’s a great skill but also a dangerous skill but trying to teach him how to be careful with people would usually come with Sougo’s own form of stigma that he realises that he should honestly let go. Tamaki makes Sougo see things from a different pair of lenses, not the one he had growing up in that rich household he lived in. Tamaki liked and did things far differently from the child Sougo was. He liked feeding the stray cats outside of the apartment, he liked greeting the shop owners at the market and asked if he could pet their dog while Sougo picked out groceries. 

  


Sougo can learn a lot from Tamaki despite him being a child.

  


Tamaki has to learn a lot from Sougo as well; be careful when you talk to strangers, don’t give people your personal information so willingly, it’s okay to scream and throw a tantrum when someone you don’t know tries to take you away and countless of other things.

  


Everyday is an adventure for both of them.

  


Sougo wakes up everyday with a wonder what Tamaki will try to do today. Tamaki who manages to find something to do everyday, Sougo wonders how he’ll be when he grows up. Sougo finds himself being more sentimental as he spends more days with Tamaki; waking him up, getting him ready, and putting him to sleep.

  


Sougo doesn’t mind the frustration, the tears, the relief, the happiness he gets from Tamaki. Tamaki is a good kid. Sougo loves him a lot, he loves every bit of him. Tamaki loves him too, with all his might, he’d tell Sougo when he hugs him. 

  


To Sougo; Tamaki is like a form of happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
> I'm soz this is p short but hopefully next time I write for this AU, it'd be longer!!  
> If you realise this has an indefinite number of chapters, it's because I probs dk when I'll figure out the ending of this AU?  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fic!!


	2. Adult Fears & Children's Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has nightmares.
> 
> They came in all shapes and sizes.
> 
> Tamaki gets his first nightmare since his arrival while Sougo feels his fears as a parent creep up.
> 
> No matter how you look at it, everyone's afraid of something!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO GROSSNOONA HERE!!  
> IT'S BEEN A LONG WHILE SINCE I UPDATED ANYTHING IN GENERAL!!!  
> I HAVE!!! THREE NEW!! CHAPTERS!!!
> 
> this is the first finished one!!  
> I've had this stuffed in my drafts for quite awhile and it was smth that has always worried me even though I have no children but how do you calm a child from their nightmares? what do you do to calm them down? how do you make them feel better? stuff like that has been circulating my head lately and thus this was created!
> 
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy the fic!

Sougo remembers the first time he got a nightmare. 

 

It was scary, there were tall dark trees that loomed over him, big vague creatures with bright white eyes that look like could swallow Sougo whole if he wasn't careful enough and him running anxiously from  _ something _ . Sougo never found out what  _ exactly _ was he running around from but if he were to be quite honest, even currently in his adulthood, he would rather not find out what it was. It probably was something meaningless or useless like a monster that could only be fictional but it could also be something  _ actually scary _ like a murderer or something worse. Either way, Sougo wouldn't want to find out.

 

Rather than getting nightmares, Sougo feels like adults only get stress dreams. Dreams that are about their daily lives whether it be mundane or not, something about it will tie some sort of fear to it when adults rest their head at night, attempting to get away from reality for a short while. Even then it fails, dreams about unfinished work, unpaid bills, bad relationships and many more stressful things that will pile up if one attempted to ignore it long enough.

 

Before Tamaki, Sougo wouldn't really sleep. Not like he could to begin with. He would stay up finishing work but once he's done, his brain gets all jittery and worked up from work, he gets both exhausted but not at the same time. He'd spend his free time doing other things like clean the house, watch a drama, read a book or literally anything he can mindlessly do at 2 o'clock in the morning. It's unreasonable but he can't sleep even if he tried.

 

But that didn't happen when Tamaki started being around, he usually would get too caught up with playing with Tamaki after work that he ends up draining his energy with the energetic small one. It made sleeping easy unlike before. For Sougo at least.

 

Surprisingly, it didn’t take Tamaki long to get used to the house they lived in. It was small after all. He got used to it by making multiple trips around the apartment complex; visiting the neighbours door to door, introducing himself and making new friends with people Sougo didn’t know even lived in the apartment. He also spent time getting used to it by trying out things at the apartment; from pressing the coffee machine to lying down the floor of his new room that he didn’t know he could even get.

 

Staring into nothing, Sougo found Tamaki always in his room like that for a few hours. Sougo would always ask him if there was something wrong yet Tamaki would hum and shake his head. Maybe he wasn’t used to it? He doesn’t seem to hate it or anything yet it held an emotion Sougo could never understand.

 

“Loneliness?” Mitsuki attempted to give his own guess when Sougo explained the situation. Sougo assumed that was the case as well. Tamaki always looked worried whenever Sougo abruptly leaves to answer calls or hears the doorbell ring, Sougo had developed a habit of telling Tamaki beforehand what he has to do but even then, it doesn’t always work. Sougo still finds Tamaki clinging onto his legs as he leaves the room.

 

This loneliness also affected Sougo and Tamaki’s sleep as well.

 

It took in the form of one of the biggest fears for children and parents; nightmares. 

 

Sougo knew it was only natural for Tamaki to have nightmares whether it’d be about his new home or something related to his own past. Yet, Sougo gets worried. What can he, as the parent, do to shake away his fears? Sougo is a bit of a coward to be honest.

 

How can he shake away his own child’s fears if he isn’t able to shake away his own?

 

Going to bed with worrying thoughts, Sougo will sometimes wonder if Tamaki will be okay sleeping on his own. Maybe he’ll get used to it, a part of Sougo says but another part chimes in, talking about how Sougo shouldn’t let a 6 year old fight his fears on his own. 

 

It happens quietly.

 

Tamaki quietly opens his door, carrying his trusted Ousama Pudding in one hand as he slips out of his room. Walking down the hall, rubbing his eyes, seeking the comfort of his father. He wonders if he can bother Sougo late at night. During his time at the child facility, he usually isn’t allowed to or at least he had to learn how to not make a fuss about it. The caretakers are always busy and tired, Tamaki didn’t want to make them angry. Not like how his previous dad used to be. He doesn’t want to see Sougo be mad.

 

Slowly opening Sougo’s bedroom door, Tamaki calls for Sougo. Jerking the older awake, he snorts and blinks away any blearness. Tamaki who stands uncertain, calls Sougo once more. Sougo gets out of bed and looks at Tamaki who only stares at the floor. He looks scared, Sougo can see it clearly. He looks like he wants to say something but it’s caught in his throat, Sougo would describe Tamaki’s facial expression.

 

“Tamaki, is there something wrong?” Sougo tries to coax him softly. Holding out his arms for an embrace, Tamaki leans in and hugs him tightly. Tamaki mumbles a couple of incoherent words as Sougo carries him to his bed. Sougo hears more incoherent mumbling, Tamaki doesn't quite string his words correctly but it's  _ something scary _ from what Sougo can catch.

 

Sougo tries to calms the younger, cradling him close. Humming lullabies softly into Tamaki’s hair until the younger’s grip around his neck loosens. 

 

Being scared, having nightmares, those things are normal. Sougo believes it’s okay for anyone to have them. Yet, no matter how many times he tells himself such things, a part of him scolds him relentlessly for it. Being a coward is no good, being afraid of things is showing weakness; those kinds of things Sougo hated hearing.

 

Sougo would never want Tamaki to think of that.

 

Carrying Tamaki back to Sougo’s bed, he tucks his son next to him. Sougo makes sure there’s enough space for his toy to sleep as well. Tamaki adjusts himself a little before going back to sleep, close to Sougo. Cheek pressed against his toy and all curled up in Sougo’s arms, Sougo wonders if Tamaki enjoys such a cat-like position. Maybe he does. After all, Tamaki has claimed to be part cat at one point and attempted to walk on all fours before getting all sore for staying like that for too long.

 

Sougo wonders if he could whisk it all away.

 

Tamaki may not know it but Sougo does. He knows what happened to Tamaki before he came into Sougo’s arms.

 

Of course, among the adults, it has been discussed for the care that goes into Tamaki. Despite Sougo shouldn’t be suprised by such news, he still felt goosebumps as they lay out Tamaki’s information. Sougo remembered being informed while looking through Tamaki’s documents; his history was something that Sougo wished he didn’t have to see but alas, he had no choice especially if he wanted to take him in.

 

Beyond all of that, he knows he won’t be able to completely whisk away such fears from Tamaki but just for tonight and the many more scary nights to come, he’ll stick by Tamaki, humming lullabies and wiping away all his tears and snot until he’s better.

 

It makes Sougo feel better and puts him at ease.

  
Maybe tomorrow morning, he’ll wake up to Tamaki’s bright smile and his loud ‘ _ good morning! _ ’s like always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
> I hope you enjoyed it!!!!!  
> Some of the stuff in this fic is p vague and it doesn't have a proper outline but yeye I kind of made a vague outline of Tamaki's background  
> will I ever discuss it? I'm not entirely sure as despite only knowing his family bg it is a little concerning that by right, he is actually still under his dad's family register (maybe?) yk? so if I ever got into detail w Sougo adopting Tamaki in this AU, it would mainly be abt him going to court (facing months and months TRYING TO GET APPROVAL) and many more!  
> But anyway! Maybe tomorrow or in a couple of days, I'll put up the other chapters so till then!  
> Thank you for reading!


	3. Injuries & First Aid Kits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamaki injures himself often.
> 
> Probably not as much to deem him accident prone but enough for him to see the first aid kit enough to begin to loathe the thing. Sougo starts to wonder if it's ok for a 6-year-old to loathe something like that.
> 
> Thankfully, Yamato comes to the rescue when Sougo finds himself in a pinch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi! Grossnoona here! Again!  
> The second chapter I've prepared has been uploaded!  
> Uwa, I'm not sure how this chapter turned out but I think it's alright!  
> You know, lying is bad but if it gets a kid to stop doing smth bad, I guess it cancels out the fact it's bad? Idk  
> but anyway I hope you enjoy it (also spare me I'm still trying hard to get everyone down!)

“ _ Meow _ ”

 

Tamaki is huddled in the corner of the front entrance. 

 

“ _ Meow _ ,” Tamaki says once more.

 

Sougo isn’t quite sure what the 6 year old could be up to.

 

“ _ Meow” _

 

Tamaki was on all fours as he headed into a bush. Sougo didn’t like the sight of it. Getting branches in his hair is one thing, getting scratches and messy before they can even get to a friend’s dinner is whole nother thing that can be time consuming.

 

Rushing to the bush, he finds Tamaki meowing at a secluded cat in the corner of the apartment building. While she didn’t look injured, it seemed that she was more afraid than anything else. Probably thanks to Tamaki chasing after her.

 

“Tamaki,” Sougo tried to call for his attention.

 

“Meow?” Tamaki ended up replying. Probably the effects of trying to communicate with a cat for too long, Sougo wants to say.

 

“Time to go.” Sougo attempted to pull Tamaki out of the bush; just a few leaves in his hair and no dirt on his pants, thank god. Maybe Tamaki knew he had to go somewhere so he didn’t let his knees press too deeply into the dirt. Sougo wanted to praise Tamaki for that small moment.

 

It was held back after Sougo saw Tamaki’s expression; it was sour.

 

Sulking, Tamaki tried to wiggle himself out of his father’s grip. He was now angrily meowing at Sougo as if trying to signal him to put him down.

 

“No.” Sougo knows warning won’t do much to Tamaki but he can at least try.

 

Tamaki tried real hard to free himself as Sougo warned him about how dangerous it was to be near a cat that was agitated. Of course, Tamaki, as always, managed to free himself and didn’t listen to a single word of Sougo’s warning. Sougo can only sigh at the result of attempting to discipline his son. It isn’t easy to discipline Tamaki. No matter how some old aunties from the same floor say, Sougo doesn’t really wanna hit or openly get angry at his son.

 

It’s not good to always openly get mad at them because it distresses children. They don’t know why it’s bad, getting mad at them for it isn’t going to help either. He rather opts to explains why it’s a bad thing to do then just scold him angrily.

 

“Ow!”

 

Tamaki’s voice cuts sharply through Sougo’s concerning thoughts. Just like that, Sougo finds himself back in reality.

 

“Tamaki?” Sougo calls out.

 

Almost immediately, Sougo is choked by Tamaki’s tight hug. Sougo lifts Tamaki to find a scratch on his knee. A scratch that Sougo can immediately recognise as a cat scratch. Tamaki got too close and received a scratch from the cat.

 

Tamaki whines. He whines about how it hurts and Sougo tries to calm him down. Tamaki kicks a little about the pain but Sougo can’t blame him. He guesses that he’ll have to tell his friend, he’ll be late.

 

“Ah, Sou?” Sougo hears someone call out for him.

 

As if God was on his side, lo and behold, Sougo’s neighbour; Yamato seemed to arrive just in time of the state of an emergency.

 

“Yamato-san,” Sougo calls back and it seemed he came directly. Probably thanks to Tamaki’s whining. Yamato had always helped Sougo and Tamaki when they were in a pinch. The older adult had always seem to know when to appear as if he was given some sort of cue from God himself or something absurd like that. At least, Tamaki would say something as weird as that.

 

Sougo briefly explains the situation as Yamato examines Tamaki's knee. After the initial panic, it seemed the scratch wasn't as bad as Sougo thought it had been. Maybe Sougo overreacted a little. He didn’t think he had such a habit till Mitsuki described it as  _ melodramatic _ in some cases but can Sougo really blame and deny such a word to describe him? Sougo used to not believe it but he certainly has come to terms with being described with those words. Especially ever since he had to get Tamaki to stop him from fighting an auntie at the grocery store over meat that was on sale. 

 

As they enter back to the receptionist, Tamaki sniffs and tries to calm himself down in some way. He begins humming to the tune of the children commercials he watches on TV with Yamato humming along beside him.

 

“Yamato-san, you know the songs he sings?” Sougo couldn't help but ask. He knew Mitsuki remembered them by heart thanks to Iori who watches them but he didn't expect Yamato knew either. The older doesn't have children neither did he look like the type to watch children shows? Maybe he overheard Tamaki sing it and attempted to remember it.

 

Yamato shakes his head and simply states he is going with the flow. Maybe in hopes to prevent Tamaki from crying and creating more obstruction. 

 

Looking at the sight causes to get Sougo humming along as well. He can’t keep up as well as Yamato but Tamaki seems happy enough that Sougo is trying to get it right. It distracts him well enough, Sougo is glad that it stops him from crying because that’s all that matters.

 

Yamato is a nice man, Sougo would say if he were asked to describe him. Carrying Tamaki and attempting to crack a couple of silly jokes to distract him, Sougo wonders how Yamato is good at taking care of kids like that. Maybe his job requires him to? Sougo isn’t exactly sure what  _ exactly _ Yamato’s job is. He never really bothered asking neither did he recall ever hearing him saying any details about his job.

 

By the time they got back to their apartment, Sougo wonders if he should just skip out on the dinner. After all, bringing Tamaki at his current condition may lead him to not stay for long to begin with. Surprisingly, Sougo doesn’t feel like he’s regretting on making such a decision. Maybe he worries too much about Tamaki, he has started caring less of “ _ missing out on fun _ ” or whatever his other friends would tell him.

 

He's starting to understand Mitsuki a little more as he spends more time with Tamaki.

 

“Alright, let's get you cleaned up,” Yamato said as he began dampening a paper towel to clean out any kind of dirt that might get into the wound. Sougo rushed off to get a first aid, he kept it far from Tamaki, thinking the younger was going to play with it but it seemed very much the opposite. He, in fact,  _ loathed the first aid kit _ .

 

Once all clean, he had to apply some medicine and get it all bandaged. While easy in theory and if you were someone who could handle a sting but not easy once you add Tamaki to the equation. Tamaki hates the sting, he'll scream and whine about it. He wouldn't throw a tantrum per say but he'll complain about it. Something Sougo has gotten used to in comparison when he adopted him a few months ago.

 

As soon as Tamaki sees the ever so familiar white box opened and the ever so familiar ointment cream, he begins to attempt to escape out of Yamato and Sougo's grasp. He tells them, he's fine (even though he isn't), he tries to run away from them even though it hurts to run. Sougo sighs as Yamato laughs at the sight of Tamaki defending himself in order to avoid the ointment cream.

 

“Tamaki, it's okay. It'll just be a short while.” Sougo tries to tell him. The sting won't hurt for that long but to a child, a while will feel like an eternity and while melodramatic, Sougo  _ kind of _ gets where Tamaki is coming from. It feels uncomfortable and smells a little weird to kids, they're not used to the sting that much nor can they help it that they wanna peel the band-aid off because they don't like it or it feels tight on their skin. Sougo gets it but he's worried about the wound not healing properly.

 

“You know, I heard if you don't put cream on it, it’ll start growing moss.”

 

Tamaki gasps just hearing such a thing. It’s ridiculous but Sougo can’t say he hasn’t said similar things in order to get Tamaki to behave properly.

 

Tamaki repeats Yamato’s words but with more shock, only to receive a shrug from Yamato. Sometimes Sougo wonders if Yamato was raised that way; tricked into doing things through ridiculous lies like that. It works though so he can’t blame the other.

 

It gets Tamaki bracing himself from the sting, murmuring to himself about not wanting moss on his legs. It’s almost as if he’s listing reasons why he doesn’t want moss on his legs even though, it’s highly unlikely to get that. If anything, he’ll just developed scabs that he’ll pick on and give himself more injuries.

 

Once he’s told that he’s all patched up, Tamaki rejoices and calls himself brave.

 

Sougo couldn’t help but agree. It’s a small feat but it’s big to Tamaki.

 

“Oh! Yama-san, why were you out?” Tamaki asks, Sougo chokes just hearing such a question. It was rude for Tamaki to assume Yamato had no life outside of working and coming back to play with Tamaki. 

 

“Ah? Dinner. I wanted to eat out.” A concise and simple answer Yamato gives as if he has been asked this before. Sougo feels embarrassment creep up to him when he hears Tamaki continue asking him things like why would he eat out or if that’s why he only goes out at night. They sound like patronizing questions but done in such a innocent way. Sougo wants to cover his face so badly.

 

“Hey, daddy,” Tamaki calls out Sougo.

 

Sougo hums in response.

 

“Can we follow Yama-san to dinner?”

 

It’s not a bad idea, Sougo thinks eating in would take too long since he was originally supposed to go to a friend’s dinner but that  _ didn’t happen _ . Tamaki would become too fussy to deal with he waits too long for dinner and they  _ were supposed  _ to eat out.

 

Yamato looks at them in confusion and asks them why they were out in the first place. Sougo answers what was supposed to happen but they ended up cancelling because of Tamaki’s accident. Yamato laughs and offers since it seemed Tamaki was more interested in hanging with Yamato than any of Sougo’s friends.

 

Tamaki happily takes the offer and talks about wanting to eat pudding for dinner. Sougo scolds him for eating sweet things before bed time but Yamato hails for such an idea. Sougo wonders if it’s okay for someone in their mid-twenties to have a 6 year old best friend.

 

Not like Yamato seems to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you had fun reading this!  
> It's a bit of a catastrophe but really, I feel like Yamato is one those adults who are good at handling kids but no one knows where he learned it from? The natural instinct of parenting ⭐  
> Anyway, hopefully, I'll upload the third one soon (maybe in a few days??)!!  
> Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!


	4. Made Up Adventures & Rainy Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It pours and pours. It seems the rain is endless at this point.
> 
> Tamaki tries to find a way to have fun while inside. 
> 
> He finds the way in going on a trip to Iorin and Mitsuki's house.
> 
> On the way there and back home, he finds himself agreeing on a lot of side quests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Grossnoona here!  
> It seems I scrapped the chapter I was planning on releasing and made this instead!  
> I think it's because of the weather lately?  
> It's been raining here lately and it rains REALLY HEAVILY. It's also for a very long time so if I wanna go out, it has to be early if not, I'll be trap in a jam :c  
> Today, I decided to write about Tamaki filling in his time during heavy rain. Also kids like repeating catchphrases like "YOLO" or "Finding a cure for boredom" for some odd reason?? My younger brother liked saying "Hit the like button and subscribe" sometimes and it's kind of funny haha  
> Regardless I hope you enjoy!

It pours.

 

It pours and pours.

 

The sound of water tapping against the apartment window sill, Tamaki dreads as he watches it.

 

Groaning, he finds himself tired of watching the rain pour heavily and endlessly. He can’t go outside and play. He has to stay inside but he’s tired of watching shows and playing with his toys. He’s tired of reading the books that his dad bought at the bookstore with him. He feels like he has read them a thousand times in the span of the time when the rain started pouring heavily till now. He has ran out of things to play with.

 

Leaving the prompted chair near the window sill, he has resorted to sprawl on the floor. Huffing to himself, he has nothing to do. His dad is busy working in his study room, Tamaki really is left to entertain himself.

 

Grumbling a little bit more, he feels it.

 

 _Ting_ , he hears it in his head.

 

_He has an idea!_

 

Tamaki gets up and grabs his jacket and bag, he knows who to visit. He peeps into his father’s study room and asks him if he could go out for awhile.

 

“Where are you going?” His dad asks, the spinning chair turned so he can look at Tamaki better.

 

“Iorin!” Tamaki exclaims. Iorin lives on the fifth floor with his older brother, Mitsuki. Mitsuki is always busy in the kitchen, Iorin always says Mitsuki’s job is making cupcakes and cakes at home. Iorin doesn’t really get it but he likes the cakes he gets to eat when he’s done. Tamaki wishes he could eat cake for dinner. Iorin always shakes his head that that doesn’t happen at his house either, he has to eat dinner first before he eats the cake.

 

“Can you go on your own or do you want daddy to send you?” Tamaki can get there on his own! Of course, his dad was just worried. Usually, Tamaki would be the one who would want his dad to following along but he spots the piles of paper on his dad’s desk, he worries he’s just being bothersome.

 

Confidently, he shakes his head and says he’ll _try_ to go on his own!

 

He sees his dad laugh in amusement and gives him the permission to walk around the apartment on his own but he warns him, if he’s ever lost, he can go to the ground floor and ask the receptionist, Takanashi-san, for help. Tamaki has met her, she’s pretty and a little clumsy but kind regardless.

 

Putting on his shoes and slipping on his jacket, Tamaki sets off as his dad waves him goodbye at the door.

 

“I’m off!” Tamaki, who has been wanting to say such things to his dad, finally gets to say it. His dad laughs before responding “Have a fun trip.” Tamaki sees some relief in his dad, he feels extremely proud of seeing such a sight! Now all he has to do is safely reach Iorin and Mitsuki’s house to play!

 

Pumped up, he skips and sings his way to the elevator.

 

“Oh? Going somewhere, Tama?” A voice behind him asks. He hears the grill closes; could he be going out as well?

 

“Yama-san!” Tamaki smiles as he turns to see Yamato in his pajamas with a black plastic bag. Tamaki squints at it; Yamato is going to take his garbage to the smelly garbage disposal. Maybe, it wouldn’t hurt to go on a little quest. It’s not like Iorin and Mitsuki are expecting him.

 

“Can I come?” Tamaki asks, Yamato gives him a funny look before shrugging a “sure, why not?” Tamaki beamed at the agreement. Yamato asks him where he was going and relays his problem; a cure for boredom.

 

“Where on earth did you learn that?” Yamato looks surprised at Tamaki’s phrase. Tamaki explains how he learnt it from TV when he was watching a show. Scratching his head, Tamaki hears Yamato mumble something about how kids are sure good at picking up things from TV nowadays.

 

They get to the garbage disposal, chatting about all sorts of things; dinosaurs, doraemon, food, pudding (yes, that has to be a category of its own!) and many more Tamaki has lost track of. By the time they got there, Tamaki has forgotten what they were doing there. He stands there idly, watching Yamato place his already sorted garbage.

 

“Welp, looks like we’ve reached the end of this quest, our dear hero” Yamato says, his voice serious and narrator-like. Tamaki gasps as he didn’t realise it would end so quickly! He exclaims, “It has! It has!”

 

“So where should we head next? To our main quest?” Yamato continues, posed in a cool-looking way. Like those cool glasses-wearing characters in video games! Tamaki thinks to himself for a while. Main quest? What was the main quest?

 

_Ah! Go to Iorin and Mitsuki’s floor!_

 

“I have to go to Iorin and Mitsuki!” Tamaki says. Yamato asks if that was the main quest, Tamaki nods and says he wanted to play with Iorin. Yamato laughs and say he’ll join because he’s done with work and has nothing to do for the rest of the day.

 

“Yama-san, you work?” Tamaki asks. Had his dad been around, his dad would flounder about as soon as he hears it but his dad isn’t around so he doesn’t know if it’s okay to say such things. Yamato only laughs and says that yes, he works. Tamaki has never seen Yamato wear the working clothes that his dad wears. He always sees Yamato leave his house in either his pajamas or stylish clothes that Tamaki wonders how he gets them. Tamaki wants to wear them too!

 

“What do you do at work?” Tamaki asks, he holds Yamato’s hand as they walk back to the elevator.

 

Yamato explains how it’s a job where he gets to wear he has to wear different clothes a day and do different things every single day. Tamaki doesn’t quite get it but it sounds fun! Yamato laughs and says it kind of is. Maybe he’ll bring Tamaki one day, Yamato tells him. Tamaki accepts the idea wholeheartedly and tells him he looks forward to it!

 

They pass by the receptionist.

 

“Ah! It’s Takanashi-san!” Tamaki calls out to the lady who looked caught up with work.

 

Takanashi-san hums and looks up. She spots Tamaki and waves at him. She’s always busy and looks like she doesn’t have time to play with Tamaki but always gives him candy and talks to him even though she doesn’t need to.

 

“Oh, you’re with Yamato-san today! What happened to your daddy?” Takanashi-san asks, she puts away some of her work and tries to get comfortable with talking to Tamaki.

 

Tamaki explains where his dad is and why he’s with Yamato.

 

“A cure for boredom, huh? I get what you mean! I, too, get bored when it rains heavily.” Takanashi-san hums as she looks the ever so pouring rain at the entrance. Tamaki hums along with her as Yamato comments about how well they get along.

 

“So where are you guys going after this?” She then asks, hand prompt against her chin. Takanashi-san always looks tired and in need of something to munch on whenever she’s working. Tamaki wishes she could give her pudding but Tamaki didn’t bring any in his bag. He only has his toys and books in his bag.

 

“Seems like he wants to go to Ichi and Mitsu on the fifth floor,” Yamato answers before Tamaki could even. Tamaki huffs before nodding in agreement. Yamato laughs and asks if Tamaki wanted to be the one to say it. Tamaki admits he did since Takanashi-san always gave him candy if he could answer questions on his own but today, Yamato snatched away his chance of obtaining candy!

 

Takanashi-san laughs and sticks her hand from below the receptionist desk, she pulls out a few pieces of candy.

 

“You don’t need to answer a question to get candy from me, Tamaki-kun. You could ask next time, but since you’re all pumped up to go to the Izumi’s floor, I’ll give you some.” Takanashi hands over the candy but tells Tamaki to share some with Iorin too. Iorin is always good at answering her questions, she believes she’s running out of questions for him to ask. Tamaki nods and thanks her properly with a bow.

 

As they bid their goodbyes to the hardworking, Takanashi-san, they head towards the elevators. Just as they were ready to board, they hear Takanashi-san gasp. Yamato turns around and asks if there’s anything wrong to which she replies about a package she forgot to get someone to send up to Mitsuki.

 

“If you don’t mind, could you pass it to him? I’m not sure what it is but it seems important,” Takanashi-san explains as she hands over the heavy box to Yamato. Yamato agrees while Tamaki repeatedly exclaims about another side quest.

 

Clearing her throat, Takanashi too goes along with Tamaki’s antics.

 

“Oh! Well then, our dear heroes, will you accept this delivery quest?” Takanashi-san tries to sound as serious but it isn’t as good as Yamato’s. Tamaki and Yamato say their ayes, Takanashi-san tries not to giggle as she tells them to go forth and make this kingdom proud!

 

They continue their journey to the fifth floor to meet Iorin and Mitsuki. Tamaki wonders what’s inside the box with Yamato who tries to throw in a couple of guesses to see which one satisfies Tamaki the most. Much to both of their dismays, they don’t think any of the guesses made by Tamaki nor Yamato were right as each time they get to a conclusion, it didn’t feel right. It seems important regardless.

 

“Maybe books?” Yamato guesses next as they walk to Iorin and Mitsuki’s door.

 

Tamaki shakes his head.

 

“What about a dragon!” Tamaki then tries.

 

Yamato explains how it’d need holes for it to breathe if that was the case.

 

“What about potatoes?” Yamato says.

 

Tamaki looks at him funny and asks him what kind of person orders potatoes online?

 

“You never know, Tama. Maybe they’re busy and buy their groceries online.”

 

They ring the doorbell and wait for a response.

 

Once the door opens and reveals Mitsuki, he exclaims “Oh! My rings!” Quickly unlocking the door, he ushers them in and tells Yamato to put the box in the kitchen. Mitsuki calls over Iorin because Tamaki has arrived.

 

“Wait, how _did you know_ I was coming?” Tamaki asks. 

 

“Magic.” Mitsuki works in mysterious ways.

 

Yamato questions him what exactly means by rings, Tamaki doesn’t really bother listening to the conversation. He, instead, rushes over to Iorin who greets him happily and asks him to join the party he has made in his bedroom. Tamaki tells Iorin about his little side quests and Iorin seems bewildered by them. He then exchanges his own side quests, like baking with his brother!

 

Tamaki wants to bake too! Iorin mentions about asking Mitsuki if they could try and help him bake. Tamaki agrees as they walk out to ask Mitsuki.

 

“Eh, you wanna try what?” They hear Yamato and Mitsuki chatting--maybe about work. Yamato always asks people about work, maybe because Yamato doesn’t get to do much? Tamaki is still trying to comprehend Yamato’s job. He still doesn’t quite get it.

 

“Choux pastry under pressure! Look, don’t you think it’s cool?” Mitsuki looked excited as he handed Yamato his phone. They seem to be talking about baking or at least that’s what Iorin said. Tamaki doesn’t know what a choux pastry is and why it would be under pressure. Do you have to tell him he has to finish it now? Why is it cool to make people finish their work now?

 

Yamato seems to get it though? Tamaki doesn’t get it at all.

 

“Nii-san, would it be okay if we tried baking with you?” Iorin asked, Tamaki beaming behind him.

 

Mitsuki, caught completely off guard, asks him to repeat the question so Iorin repeats it for him. Mitsuki hums, thinking about it. Consequences and all that jazz that Tamaki doesn’t know why adults do that. For repercussions, Iorin says.

 

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt,” Mitsuki says. He asks if Yamato would like to join, maybe to get him to watch over the kids in case they try anything dangerous while Mitsuki gets busy with other things. Yamato agrees if it means he gets free food. Mitsuki continues to mention how he’s planning on making some to give out so Yamato getting free pastries isn’t exactly wrong.

 

“What’s a choux pastry?” Tamaki asks, he seriously doesn’t know what that thing is.

 

Mitsuki tries to explain; the dessert with stuffed cream in the middle. He tries to explain how choux pastry isn’t exactly the dessert but the pastry. Tamaki tries to get it until Yamato just says; “You know the hard part of a cream puff? That’s choux pastry.”

 

Tamaki understands it completely.

 

Mitsuki makes an unconvinced face at them before continuing their hardworking on making good choux pastry. Grabbing the ingredients and aprons, they start their work! Iorin and Tamaki do the easy jobs like whisking and pouring things while Mitsuki and Yamato do the hard parts like setting the oven up and getting the molds.

 

“So that’s what it was!” Tamaki stares at the all sorts of shapes there was in the heavy box. Iorin sits next to him, looking through the boxes and listing all the shapes he knows from it.

 

After looking through, they’ve seemed to have decided to take a nap. Sprawled on top of each other, in front of the TV, Tamaki and Iorin nap with faces and aprons covered in flour. Mitsuki takes a snap and sends one to Sougo while Yamato wishes he could sleep as comfortably as that.

 

By the time they woke up, it seemed the rain has stopped. The pastries were done too, all that was left was to fill them in and they could go on another quest! Tamaki wanted to try but overfilled them a little. Yamato helps him while Iorin and Mitsuki do their own share. Mitsuki mentions about practice makes perfect. Iorin tries hard not to overfill them but underfills some, Mitsuki helps him fill them properly. Not before long, they’re done and all decorated neatly.

 

All packed up in fancy little colorful bags, Mitsuki says he was planning on giving some because all he wanted to do was see if the recipe worked. Tamaki asks if Mitsuki and Iorin were joining him in the delivery quest, Iorin agrees but asks Mitsuki if he wanted to follow too.

 

“Sure? Where first, leader?” Mitsuki seems to have jumped right in on playing along with Tamaki and Iorin. Tamaki thinks and says the receptionist.

 

“The receptionist?” Mitsuki echoes.

 

Yamato catches on quickly and briefly, explains their meeting with Takanashi-san. It seemed Yamato noticed as well, that Takanashi-san was tired and looked like she needed a break. Mitsuki cooes at Tamaki for being such a good boy.

 

Once they arrive at the reception, they find Takanashi-san just ending a call at the front desk. She sighs and seems to be mumbling to herself incoherently. As soon as Iorin and Tamaki greet her, she seems to beam up immediately.

 

“That’s not the smile that she usually uses for the tenants”, Tamaki hears Mitsuki says to Yamato.

 

“Her love for children will always beat her fatigue just like you, Mitsu” Yamato replies back.

 

Although she probably could hear, it seems Takanashi-san whisked away the other two and asks what brought Tamaki back with Iorin. They open Iorin’s bag and gift her a bag of pastries. They thank her for her hard work and hope she gets some rest soon. Takanashi-san sniffs a little and thanks the children for their kind gestures.

 

“Mitsuki-san, did you make this?” Takanashi asks. Even a mile away, anyone could tell she was completely in euphoria from receiving a gift from two little angels. Mitsuki nods and Takanashi-san seemed more happy about hearing it. She thanks again and promises to eat them as soon as can.

 

They bid her goodbye and goes to the following floors, giving it to all their neighbouring friends.

 

“Oh! Before we go home, can I give some to Nanase-san?” Tamaki asks.

 

“Nanase-san? You mean Riku?” Mitsuki asks back. Tamaki nods and he then talks about how he doesn’t understand why he wears a different wig then acts coldly when he visits sometimes. The others look confusedly and ask Tamaki how he came to such a conclusion.

 

In the elevator, he explains how he’d visit him when he wanted to go to the park but had nobody to go with. He’d either get a white-haired Nanase-san who would tell him not to run too far off or a red-haired Nanase-san that would buy ice cream with him before dinner. He doesn’t get why his wigs make him change his personality. He wonders if Nanase-san is into acting and is just practicing his characters with Tamaki, making sure they’re believable.

 

“Tamaki,” Mitsuki starts.

 

Tamaki turns to him, in confusion.

 

“Nanase-san isn’t just one person, you know that right?” Mitsuki asks. Tamaki shakes his head.

 

“Nanase-san is two people; they’re _twins_.”

 

“ _Huh_ ”

 

Yamato also attempts mentioning how they are twins who are named Tenn and Riku respectively. Tenn is the usually slightly colder and stricter white-haired one while Riku is the usually energetic and outgoing red-haired one. Tamaki tries to take in the news but it just didn’t seem right.

 

“So they’re two _different_ people?” Tamaki asks in shock.

 

“Yes, Tamaki. _They’re two very different people_.” Mitsuki and Yamato had to explain to the shocked six-year-old.

 

Once they arrive at the Nanase house door, they ring the doorbell and wait to see who would answer the door.

 

“Hello?” Tenn answers the door.

 

In Tamaki catastrophic fashion, he immediately asks; “There are two of you?!”

 

Tenn, knowing nothing about the context prior to this, gets confused about the situation. He ends up repeating Tamaki’s statement but in confusion. The poor kid doesn’t understand what’s going on at all.

 

“You have a twin?!” Tamaki then prompts.

 

“Huh--Oh, yeah, I have a twin.” Tenn answers. He’s always been the quicker one when it comes to answering Tamaki’s questions.

 

Tamaki then proceeds to exclaim how he didn’t know as Tenn unlocks the door. Tenn, calmly, answers all of Tamaki’s weird questions and asks him how he didn’t notice since they have two different hair colours.

 

Tamaki prompts him with his wild wig conspiracy to which Tenn snorts at.

 

“Hold on, I’m getting Riku.” Tenn leaves abruptly. He soon returns with Riku as everyone could hear Tenn attempt to convince Riku to hear what Tamaki said about them. Once at the front door, Tenn tells Tamaki to repeat it again to which the six-year-old frustratedly explains the conspiracy as everyone, including Iorin, watch in bewilderment.

 

Tenn tries to hold in laughter as Riku attempts to comprehend the situation at hand.

 

“Tamaki, twins exist. You know that, right?” Riku asks. Tamaki nods but he assumed that they weren’t twins. Tamaki just thought twins were unlikely to see. To which Tenn and Riku attempt to say something but couldn't. The situation was beyond their control.

 

“Well, at least now you know twins exist.” Yamato attempts to mediate.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you guys were twins,” Tamaki apologises before opening Iorin’s bag.

 

“Oh, we made you guys some pastries!” Tamaki takes out two bags and gifts it to them as an apology for making a weird conspiracy about them. The twins take the gift and forgive him for making such a mistake. Tenn mentions it being quite an honest mistake as they would switch places as kids despite their defining trait between each other was their hair. They look similar and can act very similar if they wanted to.

 

Bidding goodbye, Mitsuki and Iorin mention they have a few left but that should go to Tamaki and Yamato who have worked hard on helping them out. They happily take the gifts and watch Mitsuki and Iorin take the elevator down to their floor.

 

Yamato helps Tamaki pack his pastries in his bag so he doesn’t drop them while Yamato holds on to his. They take the lift back up to their floor. Yamato asks if Tamaki’s dad knows how much fun he had today. Tamaki mentions he’ll tell him all about it. Yamato laughs as they reach Tamaki’s door.

 

With a ring at the doorbell, the door opens and Tamaki greets his dad with an “I’m home!” and a smile. His dad smiles back and welcomes him home. Yamato greets him and mentions only dropping Tamaki off as he has a meeting to catch.

 

Tamaki pouts as Yamato couldn’t spend dinner with them. Yamato ruffles his hair and says that he spent the entire day with him, wasn’t that enough? Tamaki hums and says it’s way longer than usual so Tamaki will accept it and bids the older man goodbye as he retreats into his own apartment.

 

As he heads into his home, Tamaki shows his dad the pastries he made with Mitsuki, Iorin, and Yamato. His dad smiles and promises to have it as a dessert after dinner.

 

“So, what else happened, today?” His dad asks. Tamaki gleams and proceeds to explain his entire journey from start to finish as his dad listens along as they ate dinner together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, I'll be able to get some other chapters up soon!  
> I'm not sure if you get what Yamato's job is? Hopefully one day, I can openly say what his job is haha  
> Also if you don't get what I mean by choux pastry under pressure, [this is a wonderful example of what I mean](https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu4Pk-hHjZL/) (although I don't bake myself)  
> I hope you enjoyed it!  
> Thank you for reading!


	5. You & Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sougo gets piled with work but finds an interesting request.
> 
> Tamaki wants to go to Mitsuki and Iori's house to play _on his own _. With permission granted, Tamaki sets off on his big adventure on this rainy day!__
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> _While Sougo stays at home and spends some time alone with his pool of thoughts and maybe his (rather) dreadful work._  
>   
> 
> __  
> _[Sougo's side for Made Up Adventures & Rainy Weather]_  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Grossnoona here!  
> I've been on a roll honestly lol  
> I've been churning out a lot of fics for no particular reason?? Maybe because I've been finding a lot of inspo lately haha  
> Today, I wrote Sougo's side of the previous chapter! I wanted to do some stuff on Sougo's feelings and I didn't actually use him at all despite being one of the main charas for this AU lol  
> It's a rather lonely chapter as everyone is vaguely mentioned but he is the only one physically there since everyone else is with his baby, Tamaki!!  
> Regardless, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!!  
> (EDIT: I edited a sentence bc I found out it was off and corrected the adoption process explanation in the endnotes!)

There are points in time Sougo wished he was a little more outspoken as a kid. He wished many things that he has found in Tamaki; his outgoing personality, his love for trying new things and just so much more. Sougo always tells himself to better himself for not only his child’s sake but his own as well. He tells himself every day; “There is more to living than the one he is in now.”

 

He didn’t notice the hidden dread at all.

 

After all, being piled with endless work, he didn’t realise he has left Tamaki unattended on this rainy day. It’s not like they could do much anyway, Tamaki always worries about bothering Sougo although Sougo doesn’t mind. He enjoys playing with Tamaki as he does work.

 

However, Sougo understands where Tamaki is coming from.

 

He can’t kill off such a habit after years in the facility; forced to handle things on his own. He’s very stubborn in that sense, never really letting Sougo help him with things like changing his clothes or clean himself up unless it was difficult to do. He’s mature for his age in that sense but Sougo guesses it couldn’t be helped, he had to learn it the hard way unlike some of his other friends. Tamaki will brush it off with a huff and say he’s just mature because he quickly wants to buy pudding on his own with his own money so Sougo won’t nag him about getting a  _ ca-vi-ty _ . Sougo always laughs at how he attempts to articulate his words properly despite that missing front tooth has caused him to have a lisp.

 

It pours, relentlessly.

 

Sougo finds himself jerking each time he hears a nearby thunderstrike. Unlike how he usually is, he gets quite easily caught off guard by small things when he’s immersed in work. Usually, he’s the type that can watch a horror movie or even enter a horror house without breaking a sweat but he assumes because he’s so caught up with work, he doesn’t realise people next to him so he gets a little surprised.

 

But unlike others, Tamaki’s footsteps are loud. They echo throughout the apartment so it alerts Sougo where the six-year-old is going; whether it’d be him attempting to get a glass of water from the kitchen or deciding to take a nap in Sougo’s bedroom, Sougo knows where his child will be. It sounds weird but it’s not like he’s watching Tamaki 24/7. Children need their own personal space too. Sougo won’t breach in unless he is allowed to and Tamaki will show that. Until then, Sougo tries not to be overbearing with him.

 

He hears footsteps loudly stomp towards his study room.

 

_ Cling  Cling _

 

The sound of Tamaki’s keychains cling each step he takes.

 

_ Cling  Cling _

 

Could it be Tamaki wants to go somewhere?

 

_ “Daddy?” _

 

Sougo hums in response.

 

_ “Can I go out and play?” _

 

Sougo ponders for a while. Go out and play? In heavy rain? Wouldn’t Tamaki get sick? Sougo doesn’t quite get what he’s up to. Instead of rejecting the idea or jumping to conclusions, he opts to ask him where he’s going. Surely, Tamaki will tell him. After all, Sougo has a guess where he could be going.

 

“Where are you going?” Sougo asks, the spinning chair turned so he can look at Tamaki better.

 

_ “Iorin!” _

 

Tamaki exclaims, his excitement clear as day despite the heavy weather. It squeezes Sougo’s heart a little, he feels just as excited about Tamaki seeing Iori until a bigger problem dawned him. His work. He has to finish it before anything else. Maybe he could send him and ask Mitsuki to bring him back? Surely, Tamaki prefers Sougo to stay but he has piles of reports to finish and it’s not easy to do it when he’s going to be asked to play with the kids or chat with Mitsuki. It’ll just distract him.

 

Unless

 

_ “Can you go on your own or do you want daddy to send you?” _

 

It wasn’t unlike Sougo to ask Tamaki to run small simple tasks like getting things from a nearby grocery, occasionally accompanied by a friend like Riku or Tenn from the floor below, or anything similar. He has done things on his own, it was normal but Sougo wonders if Tamaki will get lost or get distracted and run off to do something else? Maybe Sougo is just being dramatic again. Still, he’d like to take repercussions before anything else happens.

 

“No, I can try to go on my own!” Tamaki says, shaking his head. He gets a little jittery, maybe out of extreme excitement? Sougo can’t tell exactly but it makes him laugh in amusement. It’s nice to see Tamaki grow up and happily do things on his own.

  
  


“Alright then, I’ll send you off then.” Sougo gets up from his desk and follows the tiny rascal to the front door. Tamaki asks Sougo a few things like if he needed anything or if he’ll be okay being alone at home, Sougo answers all of them and reassures Tamaki that Sougo will be right here at home. He won’t go anywhere, he promises.

 

It occurred to Sougo, he forgot to mention one more thing just in case Tamaki forgets what floor Mitsuki and Iori live on or he gets distracted and lost along the way. He mentions to Tamaki, Takanashi Tsumugi, the receptionist at the ground floor. She’s a kind lady who loves children and finds Tamaki fun to talk to. She’s always busy but somehow kind of puts off work for him and the other kids in the building. Sougo wonders if that’s a good thing to do. He can’t really blame her since he does the same sometimes.

 

“If you ever get lost, you can always go to the ground floor and ask Takanashi-san for help, okay?” Sougo warns him. Tamaki nods his head quickly in response and repeats it so he remembers it better.

 

Slipping on his shoes and jacket, Tamaki sets off on his big adventure!

 

_ “I’m off!” _

 

“Have a fun trip,” Sougo replies back, waving him off at the front door as he skips out of Sougo’s sight. As soon as Sougo closes the door, he sighs. He didn’t realise it can quickly dawn him that the apartment is a lot quieter without Tamaki around.

 

How many months has it been since Tamaki arrived? Four months? Five months? Sougo isn’t entirely sure but it’s  _ definitely been awhile _ especially since they very recently celebrated his very first birthday in his own house with his friends from school and the apartment. Sougo wonders if he’s doing a good job, he’s no longer being hawked by the facilitators of the orphanage or even the lawyers when he was obtaining custody. He was at peace but he wished one of the facilitators came down to visit and asked him how he was putting up with taking care of Tamaki. Maybe they couldn’t because there was no point and they are far more busy taking care of children who are in need.

 

“All alone, huh?” Sougo mumbles to himself as he walks to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. Only the sound of ceramics clinking and the coffee machine buzzing fills in the rather empty apartment. It’s lonely, Sougo thought as he sipped his coffee.

 

_ I shouldn’t be feeling worried but… _

 

Sougo couldn’t quite whisk away such thoughts. Maybe he should message Mitsuki just to let him know Tamaki should be on his way, on his own, to his house to play with Iori. Grabbing his phone, he just sends a quick text. It doesn’t have to be long, just a small simple text saying Tamaki will be over. Yes, that is all. After that, Sougo should be doing work. 

 

Sougo wonders if it’s a bad thing but ever since Tamaki has started being part of his life, Sougo has thoughts about work connected to Tamaki. To Sougo, work equals money, money equals paying bills and taxes but it also equals to buying toys and books which means spending more time with Tamaki. He is now arranging his life just to make sure he spends time with Tamaki. That’s all he could ever want.

 

Putting away his phone, he tries to get back to work.

 

Reading through reports, analysing it then, typing it out for future works. Sougo isn’t quite sure if he enjoys his job but it’s good enough and he enjoys it enough. His co-workers aren't painful to deal with nor does he have to work overtime often. Before Tamaki, he used to. He did it often and it probably took a toll on his health. Critically.

 

He vaguely remembers overworking so much and getting hospitalised, it got a scare from Mitsuki who nagged about the health issues that will affect him in the long run. He also vaguely remembered Iori asking him if he’ll get better so they could play next time he visits. Looking back at it now, Sougo wished he wasn’t such a workaholic. It’s never good to work overtime, he really should have considered consulting to a doctor before it got worse. At least he learned his lesson.

 

He doesn’t know how long he’s been doing all of this work but he knows it’s been a while if his coffee has long gone cold and that the rain was starting to settle down. He sees the sun almost ready to set among the dark heavy clouds. He wonders how Tamaki is doing.

 

_ Ping _

 

Just as if on cue, Mitsuki sends him a message.

 

It was a picture of Tamaki and Iori sleeping with their faces and aprons covered in flour, sprawled on top of each other. They look comfortable and pleased with themselves. Sougo’s glad Tamaki had fun but of course that means sooner or later, he’ll come back. Maybe after he’s done napping.

 

Looking at his pile of work is about three-quarters done, Sougo was pleased as well.

 

It seemed he has managed to go through almost all of his work. Just a little more and he’ll make dinner. Sougo hasn’t really thought what to have for dinner yet, maybe hamburger steak? He remembered Tamaki seeing one on a cooking show once. They spoke about how it should be juicy and tasty. Tamaki kept going on about it for a few days.

 

He couldn’t quite remember the recipe or the show’s name but he vaguely remembered seeing a famous actor who looked vaguely like his neighbour. Maybe he was seeing things, Yamato wasn’t the type to be flashy anyway. Or maybe he is. He is friends with Tamaki after all.

 

Powering through his last quarter of work, he rejoiced over his finished work.

 

Work all settled, Sougo heads over the kitchen to start cooking. It was a little past six in the evening, Tamaki should be home soon. He only knows he tried baking  _ something _ but it seemed no matter how hard he tries to press Mitsuki about it, the older will just send a teasing sticker and call it a surprise. Honestly, Mitsuki is mischievous as always.

 

He hums a commercial tune that Tamaki has been repeating the past weeks, it has become a bit of an earworm to Sougo. He finds himself humming during times when he’s busy. It’s not disruptive but it can a bit weird to hum commercial tunes to yourself in public.

 

Sougo cooks quietly, he doesn’t really want to play anything just in case he misses the sound of the doorbell ringing. Not like it matters, Tamaki will continue to ring it and shaking the door grill until he can get it.

 

“ _ Like a monkey _ ,” his mother says. Sougo remembers her disbelief over his objection for marriage but expresses his wishes of adopting a child. She goes on a speech about single parenthood is difficult and that it holds very little to no benefits for the parent. A child should grow up in a house of two, she will go on. It dreaded Sougo uncomfortably. He ended up crying at home over how against the idea they were, telling him to go get married and consider how people will view him, no, how they’ll  _ view his parents _ .

 

How depressing, he thought.

 

But that was the past, it wasn’t like he spoke to them often. Maybe he should try, maybe they would like Tamaki--maybe just his mother. He isn’t entirely sure for his father in this case.

 

Finishing up the dishes and plating them, it seemed the doorbell cut through his thoughts faster than usual. It must be Tamaki, Sougo hoped. The six-year-old had a knack of cutting through Sougo’s intrusive thoughts with his antics. It’s almost as if he knew when Sougo was troubled by something, Sougo thought. Laughing a little, he quickly finished plating dinner and headed towards the front door.

_  
_ _ “I’m home!” _

 

Tamaki beams at him, backpack looking awfully a lot more fuller than when he left. Sougo wonders if Mitsuki filled his bag with more baked goods. He tends to spoil Iori and Tamaki a little too much but he can’t say that when he regards Mitsuki as his senior in parenting.

 

_ “Welcome home, Tamaki.” _

 

He greets Yamato who apparently only was here to send Tamaki back home. Tamaki pouts and throws a fit about Yamato not being able to stay for dinner.

 

“I played with you all day, didn’t I? Wasn’t that enough for today?” Yamato asked. Sougo took note of that. It seemed it was more than Mitsuki and Iori he has spent the day with. Sougo smiled softly as he knew he will be hearing an earful of adventures from Tamaki tonight.

 

“ _ I guess _ . Yama-san stayed longer than usual!” Tamaki says after a ponder. He seemed pleased with spending the day with Yamato who they bid goodbye. Yamato always gets busy at different times of the day, Sougo isn’t entirely sure what kind of job would require so many meetings in a day. Mitsuki mentioned a vague outline of his job; something to do with entertainment but that was it.

 

As Tamaki slipped out of his shoes, he showed Sougo the pastries he made with Mitsuki, Yamato, and Iori. Sougo promises to have them for dinner as Tamaki rejoices at the sight of hamburger steak served at the dining table.

 

Helping Tamaki sit at the table, they dig in and Sougo asks;

 

_ “So, what else happened, today?” _

 

With a bright smile on his face, Tamaki recounts his day since he bid goodbye to Sougo till he greeted Sougo at his arrival. No matter what, Tamaki surely finds a way to set himself into a big adventure together with his many friends. Sougo will always cherish that part of Tamaki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some new stuff is written there but uh, I'll give you a rough gist of what Sougo meant being hawked by facilitators and lawyers. To adopt in Japan (iirc), potential parents are forced to go through trials and trials by Children Guidance Center.  
> So what he meant by being hawked or maybe preyed on by these people is bc there'll be a social worker or facilitator that pops up once in a while to trial Sougo and Tamaki. This process alone takes about 6 months if I'm not mistaken? (the adoption process takes abt 8 months up till 2 years!)  
> Ofc this entire AU takes place post the process as I wouldn't want to go deep into the details of the entire process.  
> Hopefully, I'll get the next chapter up soon!  
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as well!


	6. Expectations & Disappointments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamaki exclaims he wants to get married.
> 
> Sougo chokes.
> 
> They try to work it out and Tamaki learns that some parts of adulthood aren't as fun as how the TV puts it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Grossnoona here!  
> Update update! It's been awhile!  
> Today's chapter is about Tamaki who wishes to get married to Iori, Sougo and Mitsuki dies, Nagi gets killed in the process, Yamato sits there and becomes an uncle (not seriously an uncle)  
> I wrote this prompt months ago but only got around to doing it properly recently!  
> Regardless I hope you enjoy it!

“ _ I WANT TO GO GET MARRIED! _ ”

 

Sougo chokes the moment he hears Tamaki scream. Mitsuki nearly drops a tray of croissants as Yamato breaks into laughter. Sougo doesn’t quite get it. Did his son just immediately tell him, with no context, that he wants to get married? Sougo feels like his entire is in shambles just hearing such a thing.

 

Mitsuki repeats Tamaki except in exasperation.

 

Tamaki who does not hear the shock in Mitsuki voice (or maybe he does, Sougo doesn’t know anymore), nods and explains that he wants to get married to  _ Iori of all people _ . Mitsuki puts his hand on his head, in complete disbelief. Yamato makes a joke about how kids these days really do grow up fast.

 

“Tamaki, why do you wanna marry Iori?” Sougo asks as he watches Mitsuki look at Nagi in complete anger. Sougo also had a gut feeling it was Nagi who taught them 

 

Tamaki explains that he likes Iori the most out of all his friends and asked Iori if they wanted to get married together. He added that Iori said yes as Mitsuki looks at Iori in shock. Iori nods and states that he likes Tamaki a lot too. It seemed to be a mutual agreement between the two.

 

Yamato chimes in and asks them if they even  _ know what marriage is _ to which Iori nods and points at Nagi that he was the one that taught them. Sougo and Mitsuki were right. Nagi looks baffled, like a fish out of water, trying to find an excuse to what led them into such a conversation. Yamato mediates the entire situation as usual. Yamato is always the one to mediate the situation it seems. Nagi who tries to laugh off Mitsuki’s anger about planting such an idea in Iori and Tamaki, Sougo wonders what led up to the situation.

 

“Did  _ you _ ask what marriage was, Tamaki?” Sougo asks.

 

Tamaki nods and explains how he was watching a cartoon that had two people wearing white walking down the aisle of a white building. He asked Nagi about it and explained that it was two people getting married. Iori then chimes in saying he didn’t know why people got married to which Nagi explained;

 

“ _ Oh, it’s when two people decide to be together forever. _ ”

 

Sougo thought that it was done in such Nagi fashion. Of course, he wouldn’t initiate such a conversation with a 6 year old and a 7 year old. Surely, Tamaki and Iori were just curious children but is that enough of a reason to save Nagi from Mitsuki? Maybe not, Sougo thought while laughing weakly as Nagi begged for mercy.

 

“Nii-san! Don’t kill him! Nagi-san is the priest!” Iori exclaimed, trying to stop his older brother but that instead, caused Mitsuki’s need to murder triple. Nagi looks at Iori in confusion as it seemed he could not recall agreeing to be the priest. Before Nagi could even ask when he agreed to such a thing, it seemed Mitsuki’s hands got to his neck faster than he could ever possibly dodge. Iori, as small as he is, tries his best to stop his older brother from attacking  _ his priest _ .

 

Tamaki joins along and before Sougo could even comprehend the entire situation, Mitsuki has two children clinging onto his legs begging him to stop. Nagi had already swiftly escaped Mitsuki’s grasped as Mitsuki attempted to stop the children from preventing him from attacking Nagi. Sougo watched the entire situation in astonishment as he didn’t think the two children wanting to get married  _ that bad _ . He assumed they preferred wanting to be adults for other reasons like getting to buy your own things with your own money and so on.

 

He couldn’t see the idea of marriage as fascinating. That could be because Sougo himself was never really up for marriage. He preferred the idea of a child but not a marriage which seemed difficult to grasp for some people. Sougo sighs at that kind of reaction but he doesn’t mind indulging Tamaki and Iori for their wedding even if it wasn’t much.

 

Yamato who had only been sitting there either laughing or attempting to mediate them, finally stops the children from bothering Mitsuki and prevent Mitsuki from attacking Nagi. He mentions how getting married is difficult and asked if Tamaki and Iori were willing to go through all that trouble to get married. The younger two ponder for a while and asked what kind of difficult things did they have to do?

 

Yamato hums for a while before telling them the biggest challenge of marriage; registration of marriage. He then proceeds to tell the two children the heavy amounts of paperwork a couple will have to go through in order to get married. Tamaki sticks his tongue out in disgust since he hates reading big and heavy stacks of paper but Iori holds Tamaki’s hand and tells him; Iori will help him fill in all the paperwork if it means to marry Tamaki.

 

“Oh boy,” Yamato sighs to himself. It seems scaring them off with real-life procedures isn’t going to work in this situation, huh? Yamato surrenders as he watches Tamaki and Iori happily talk to each other about filling out forms and important documents together. As a good couple should, they would add.

 

Mitsuki sighs to himself as well, looks like they’re eager to get married. Mitsuki finally succumbs to the thought and asks the younger two when they’d like to get married. Tamaki asks him if they could get married now, Sougo might send himself into the hospital for a check up on unusual heart-rate. Tamaki is planning on murdering everyone with his questions.

 

“You want it to be today?” Mitsuki stutters out the question, attempting to reel back from Tamaki’s decision. He looks at Iori who only nods and gets on board of their wedding day. Children can really drive you nuts, huh. Sougo never thought he’d have a meltdown over marriage this early into his parenthood It seemed life had other plans for him in mind.

 

All adults had no choice but to agree on their “ _ marriage _ ” although it seemed ridiculous. Tamaki and Iori rejoiced then asked when they could register to get married. Yamato spits out his coffee as it seemed he didn’t expect them to apply whatever knowledge Yamato stuffed into their heads that fast. Truly, children are wonderful things.

 

“In 15 minutes, we can go get registered! Do you have rings?” Sougo asks as the other three adults look at him in confusion. Sougo signals them to go along with him just for this short while.

 

Tamaki gasps and exclaims how it’s true that they don’t have rings. Mitsuki explains the urgency of needing rings for marriage. Explaining how it’s a tradition and some sort of symbol that they have gotten married, the children take it in and explain that they need rings immediately. Sougo takes that chance to usher them off with Yamato in hand to go buy rings.

 

Yamato agrees and quickly leaves with them. At that, Sougo explains how he’ll make mock registration papers for the children while Mitsuki thinks of food to eat for the wedding while Nagi helps decorate. All of this wouldn’t take long, 15 to maybe 20 minutes will do. They set off to do their own individual task as the children go to the convenience store and maybe buy candy rings that they could use as their wedding rings.

 

Sougo doesn’t really get it but he assumes it’s an experience. Sougo never enjoyed marriages. Growing up, he had gone to so many weddings he lost track of the faces he saw. Worst of all, sometimes he’d lose track of the number of times he’ll see a father’s friend or a relative marry twice or something similar. He never enjoyed it. He thinks marriage is tiring but he can’t let out such a thought especially since Nagi and Mitsuki do have some potential to get married. It isn’t surprising since the two fit well. Despite Mitsuki’s need to nag the other, they still get along well and helps out when he can. Nagi even has an  _ Iorin Approval  _ stamp from Iori himself, which apparently means Iori likes Nagi too.

 

He laughs at the thought of how Mitsuki seeks approval from a 7 year old but it can’t be helped, Mitsuki would put Iori above anything else. Whether it would be work, dating or even his social life; he’ll drop it all for Iori in a heartbeat. Sougo can’t make a joke out of it since he too is the same except Tamaki might want to cross out dating since Sougo was never the type to actively look for a partner. Tamaki himself is enough.

 

After what could almost be 30 minutes, Yamato comes back with two laughing boys.

 

Mitsuki and Sougo quirk an eyebrow while Nagi excitedly asks what do their rings look like. The two laughing boys look up to Nagi and showed their candy rings on their ring fingers. Yamato explained how it took longer than expected because they both couldn’t decide what colors they wanted the rings to be. In the end, they came to an agreement of having blue since it matched both of them. Iori tells them that it was Tamaki.

 

“How charming,” Mitsuki laughs.

 

Tamaki and Iori look at the now decorated apartment and the seated stuff animals all waiting for them to commence their wedding. They get excited and quickly get ready; Mitsuki helping them get changed into their wedding clothes as Nagi prepares his priest-persona. Tamaki mentions how either Sougo or Mitsuki has to walk Iori down the aisle.

 

“Wow, you seriously did watch an entire wedding sequence.” Yamato is impressed. Sougo isn’t so sure if Tamaki was watching a cartoon that had a wedding scene or those lifestyle shows. Sougo has been wondering if he should watch what kind of shows Tamaki is watching. Just in case he starts getting more weird ideas.

 

Mitsuki and Sougo discuss among themselves, they finally agree Mitsuki was walking Iori down the aisle. They think it felt better than Sougo since Mitsuki  _ is Iori’s guardian _ . They get the children ready and commence;  _ the wedding. _

 

The wedding starts simple; Tamaki standing proudly next to Nagi as they watch Iori and Mitsuki walk down the aisle. Sougo thinks it’s funny; how despite it being just a play pretend, Sougo somehow felt nervous. Maybe it’s due to how serious Tamaki and Iori are. Mitsuki even looks slightly nervous. Maybe they’re just taking this play pretend too seriously.

 

The wedding goes as per usual, they saw their vows, laugh and it somehow all stops when Nagi says they have to kiss.

 

“ _ Kiss? _ ” Tamaki asks, he looks disgusted.

 

Nagi nods.

 

Iori laughs and says that they weren’t going to do that. They bought think kissing is gross, they skip it because they don’t like it as Nagi proceeds the wedding. They finish the wedding successfully with no objections, as Yamato jokes. They celebrate for a moment before Tamaki goes on about how they forgot about the registration papers. Sougo kind of hoped they forgot about that.

 

Mitsuki ushers them to fill out the papers. As soon as they land on the papers, Tamaki frowns.

 

“What’s wrong, Tamaki?” Sougo asks.

 

“There’s  _ so much to fill out! _ ” Tamaki exclaims.

 

Iori gets a headache reading the paperwork as Yamato and Nagi question what kind of ungodly paperwork did Sougo create. Sougo claims that he didn’t do anything but made basic questions for the children answers. Mitsuki calls it a bluff as he looks at the paper.

 

_ Sougo’s writing is small. _

 

It’s not a lot, in fact maybe considerably less than any average paperwork you’d have to fill out in your entire life but it had small fine lettering. Yamato attempts to read it aloud from a reasonable distance while Mitsuki squints at the writing. No wonder those two didn’t want to fill it out; Sougo’s writing is awfully small. It’s hard to read but Sougo tries to justify it.

 

“Who did you write this for?  _ Ants? _ ” Mitsuki scolds as Sougo raises his hand in defense as if his words could be deflected by them.

 

Tamaki and Iori give up. They try to answer the first two questions which were their names but they couldn’t take it anymore. Sougo’s paperwork seems to be the final blow to stopping their  _ supposed marriage _ . They call the marriage off.

 

“Getting married is hard work!” Tamaki huffs. Iori agrees and claims that he doesn’t  _ ever want to get married _ . Tamaki ayes at the statement, they talk about how tiring marriage is. Finding matching rings, coming up with their vows, kissing after their vows and filling out lots of questions that Tamaki doesn’t get it; he hates all of it. Somehow, just from this one isolated play pretend, the two of them learn marriage is hard.

 

Nagi laughs, he tells them a secret about marriage.

 

“You’d do it all if it’s someone you love.”

 

Tamaki and Iori ponder for a while before finally agreeing that Nagi is right. It only looks less tiring if you love the other very much. Tamaki and Iori learn their lesson; they admit they’re not ready for marriage yet. Iori mentions wanting to try it again, Tamaki doesn’t want to yet. 

 

The adults laugh at their reaction. How pure they are, Sougo coos at them. He doesn’t mind whether or not Tamaki wants to marry when he gets older but he’s only 6. He doesn’t have to worry about such things but having him run around pretending to be an adult once in a while is fine.

 

After all, Tamaki has always been dreaming of becoming an adult.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nagi who has only been mentioned finally appears!  
> It took me long enough, the next time I update might be around near Sougo's birthday?  
> Or maybe I'll make a chapter before that but still, I have some stuff prepared for his birthday so please look forward to it!  
> Thank you for reading!!


	7. Planning Parties & Surprising Happiness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamaki plans a birthday party for his dad.  
> He garners help from a few friends and works his way into throwing the best party his dad has ever had!
> 
> Sougo didn't see it coming at all.  
> But he's glad for such a present.
> 
> [Happy Birthday, Osaka Sougo!!]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grossnoona here with a new chapter!  
> Today is Sougo's birthday and I wrote a birthday chapter!  
> Sougo has always been so kind and it's only deserving for him to get a big celebration!  
> The pacing is a little weird so I'm sorry for that but I really did try to fix that (it took me a couple of rewrites to get at least this outcome which is good to me)  
> I hope you enjoy it!

_ “When’s your birthday, Osaka-san?” Tamaki asked, Sougo faintly remembers the scattered crayons on the table. They were drawing pictures of things Tamaki did today. Crayon-drawn pictures of classrooms, the playground and various other things that Sougo can’t really recognise but he listens to Tamaki explain as they’re drawn out. _

 

_ “My birthday?” Sougo asks back. _

 

_ He watched Tamaki stop coloring in his bed; he looks up to Sougo and nods. Tamaki looked determined and serious as much as a 5-year-old can be. Sougo isn’t exactly sure of the point of asking for his birthday. _

 

_ After all, the chances of them being a family were rather slim at the moment. Sougo wasn’t even sure if this was going to be the last time he was going to see Tamaki. Sougo can only assume that Tamaki was hoping Sougo was going to be  _ **_the one_ ** _ and Sougo hopes for the same. Even dwelling at the thought, he still saw Tamaki’s optimism towards the situation. “It’ll work out,” Sougo wants to say Tamaki who was still looking at him determinedly. _

 

_ “28th May,” Sougo finally answered. _

 

_ Tamaki repeated it softly, taking in the information. He writes it down on one of the scattered drawings. Sougo laughed at the sight, the 5-year-old was very determined in remembering such a date. _

 

_ “I’ll remember it! Osaka-san’s birthday is a very important day!” Tamaki exclaimed as Sougo laughs. Tamaki then started to tell him about a party he would try to throw for Sougo’s birthday; balloon, party streamers, and cake. Lots of cake. _

 

_ It was thoughtful, Sougo watched Tamaki get excited for a birthday they were both unsure if they were ever going to celebrate. _

  
  
  


Tamaki has been waiting for this day to come; his dad’s birthday. He marked the days as they want back ever since the start of May. His dad would watch him mark the dates on his calendar and runoff during the day, not once to stop wondering what he’s gotten himself worked up with. Tamaki doesn’t think his dad doesn’t care, he just thinks it’s just Tamaki doing Tamaki things. Which is true, he is doing typical Tamaki things but this time; it’s for a special occasion!

 

Tamaki spent the past week, trying to make a secret party for his dad.

 

He’s always wanted to make one because his dad did when Tamaki first got to go home with him. He also threw another surprise party for Tamaki’s birthday. No matter the occasion, Tamaki’s dad had always a trick up his sleeves to surprise Tamaki. Tamaki wanted to do the same, he believed his dad deserves a surprise or two. Especially one for his birthday, Tamaki thought to himself.

 

Tamaki remembered at the start of the week, he went to visit Iorin and Mitsuki. The uttermost important part of a birthday is the  _ cake _ . You should never forget the cake. He didn’t know how much cakes cost but he always saw his dad pay a lot for cakes. He wondered how much Mitsuki wanted him to pay for the cake. Hopefully, not a lot since Tamaki didn’t carry a lot of money. He worked hard to save up all that money; all that puddings and  _ gashapons _ he had to avoid. If it was for his dad, it was worth the money.

 

“ _ 1000 yen _ .”

 

Mitsuki said it straight up. No beating around the bush; Tamaki stares at him in despair. 1000 yen is a lot to ask from a 6-year-old. Tamaki  _ isn’t even sure _ if he has enough. Pulling out his coin purse; he starts counting slowly. One by one, he counts his coins; hoping he’ll reach to 1000. Too bad he can’t really count to 1000. He spends minutes, maybe hours; just counting his collected coins from the past month.

 

“I’m joking,” Mitsuki tells him, trying to get the younger to stop from counting. Tamaki who is already getting a headache from counting all those coins looks up in confusion. As soon as he hears Mitsuki explains he was actually just joking, Tamaki puffs up his cheeks in retaliation. Mitsuki can be pretty mean sometimes when it comes to joking around. Mitsuki laughs a little before apologising for tricking Tamaki.

 

They settled it over tea, talking about what cake his dad would like.

 

They look through the many flavours Mitsuki had listed down, they talk about cakes that might suit everyone’s palette too. Tamaki asks if it’d be too difficult to ask for something too sweet but then backtracks about how his dad only likes eating spicy food. Mitsuki agrees and mentioned he can’t put Iorin next to his dad, just in case Iorin tries to pick some food off his plate and burns his tongue. Tamaki nods and mentions how he’s done it before, it wasn’t a very good experience. He cried while his dad panicked over Tamaki’s curiosity. Mitsuki wondered why Tamaki didn’t think that the huge amount of red decorating the food as a sign to not eat it. Tamaki explained how he didn’t think it was  _ that spicy _ until he ate it.

 

They settle for  _ earl grey cake _ , it didn’t seem so sweet and it’s apparently easy to eat.

 

“How much do I pay you then?” Tamaki asked, holding his coin purse close. Mitsuki laughs at the seriousness on Tamaki’s face. He hums for a while before answering, gauging a good price for a 6-year-old. It shouldn’t be too pricey just in case he was thinking of using it for other things like presents.

 

“300 yen,” Mitsuki finally answers.

 

Tamaki looked shocked when he heard the price. It was way cheaper than the price Mitsuki jokingly told him before. Tamaki pulls out 300 yen to pay Mitsuki who accepts and seals the deal. Mitsuki tells Tamaki that the cake will definitely be ready before his dad’s birthday party. Tamaki nods graciously and thanks to him.

 

“What about  _ decorations _ ?” Nagi asks which causes Tamaki to pause.

 

Nagi was right, Tamaki didn’t know what to do for decorations. He asks Nagi and Iorin for help, they agree wholeheartedly. They discuss as Mitsuki works alone at the counter; maybe thinking of cake designs for the party. Nagi and the kids discuss decorating it according to a theme; purple. They continue going on about buying decorations like balloons and streams for the party as they head towards the door. Nagi informs Mitsuki they’re going to buy decorations for the party but only receives a grunt and a handwave.

 

On their way to buy decorations, they bump into the Nanase twins who ask them where they’re going.

 

Tamaki explains that they’re going to throw a secret surprise birthday for his dad, the twins ask if they’re invited and Tamaki nods because of course, why wouldn’t they be? The Nanase twins are offered to join and help out with the party but sadly turn down the offer due to upcoming exams. They mention having to prepare for exams as they don’t want to end up in supplementary classes during summer. Tamaki bids them goodbye and hopes they pass their exams with flying colors.

 

The twins laugh and wish the trio good luck as well.

 

Nagi asks Tamaki how he’s going to hide the party from his dad since Tamaki usually wakes up later than his dad. Tamaki didn’t think about that part either. He wonders too; he isn’t very good at hiding big things like these. He feels like he’s going through a dilemma just thinking about it. It truly was a big issue because his dad might found out before Tamaki had the time to wake up and everything.

 

“ _ Tamaki _ ,” a voice calls out.

 

It was Takanashi-san, the receptionist. She apparently called over Tamaki due to his troubled face. Tamaki explains the situation at hand and Takanashi-san understood completely. Hiding from his dad had always been difficult, Takanashi-san even found times where she couldn’t hide anything from his dad. Nagi and Iorin agree solemnly, Tamaki’s dad is scary because he has some sort of sixth sense when it comes to liars.

 

But if it’s to surprise his dad, Takanashi-san  _ would love to help _ !

 

Takanashi-san mentions being able to make arrangements for a private room for it. She wanted to join the party too. She talked about bringing her coworker, Banri, to help out with decorations in the morning and joining in as well. Tamaki smiled and thanked Takanashi-san for always being helpful. The only issue was they needed an adult to approve the booking, Tamaki was far too young to approve it.

 

“Nagi-san?” Iorin asked, looking up to him.

 

Nagi apologises to the two kids and mentions he isn’t a residence at the apartment thus he can’t sign it either. He asks Takanashi-san if it’s possible to call Mitsuki so he can come down and sign the papers for the booking, Takanashi-san agrees and says she didn’t mind waiting. Nagi makes a quick call while the kids talk to Takanashi-san about her day.

 

Takanashi-san can quickly fill up time just by chatting and exchanging birthday party ideas for Tamaki’s dad’s birthday. They chat and laugh as Mitsuki comes down from his apartment. When he does, Mitsuki looks at them funnily before joining in the conversation. Takanashi-san briefly explains the situation and Mitsuki agrees that it’s better than trying to sneak into Tamaki’s house in the early mornings of his dad’s birthday.

 

Tamaki asks what he means.

 

Nagi explains that Tamaki’s dad can be scary if he hears intruders, Mitsuki ayes at that fact. They talk about how Tamaki’s dad can be really scary if people aren’t careful, Mitsuki has swiftly avoided death due to his own carelessness. Tamaki doesn’t quite get it since all Tamaki knows about his dad is that he’s always tired but still plays with him and smiles warmly at him.

 

“Must be nice to be  _ a baby _ instead of being  _ an adult _ ,” Mitsuki mumbles as he finishes up the paperwork.

 

Once settled, Mitsuki bids Nagi, Iorin and Tamaki goodbye as he heads up to his apartment.

 

Nagi brings the kids to a party shop; they look through masks and costumes as Nagi arranges balloons and decorations. They laugh as they put on weird masks and shows them to Nagi who laughs in between the serious talks with him and the owner. Tamaki wonders how much should he pay Nagi for helping him out. He asks Iorin who thinks for a while before shrugging and admits he isn’t so sure either. It’s hard trying to label a price on things like help.

 

“Why that’s a fancy mask you got there,  _ Tamaki _ .” Nagi points out; it was  _ definitely fancy _ . The fancy mask had feathers and a pretty design that Tamaki couldn’t quite understand. He tells Nagi it tickles his nose a little, Iorin agrees while putting on his own as well. Nagi laughs and tells them how people used to wear them to balls.

 

“Balls? How do you go to a  _ ball _ ?” Tamaki asks.

 

“Not  _ that kind of ball _ , Tamaki! This ball is one where you get to wear fancy clothes and dance with people!” Iorin corrects Tamaki as he makes vague dance moves. Tamaki looks at Iorin funny as Nagi tells them that Iorin is correct. A ball is like a dance party where people wear fancy clothes; sometimes they wear masks. Tamaki  _ kind of _ gets it but he doesn’t see the point in hiding behind a mask that only covers the eyes not the rest of the face. He understands that it’s like a fancy costume party but it doesn’t quite seem to act like one.

 

Nagi laughs and admits to not knowing the answer to such a big question.

 

They walk back home, empty-handed. Tamaki didn’t get why until Nagi explained to him that it’s hard to carry all of the things on their own and they wouldn’t be able to hide it from Tamaki’s dad if they brought it home on their own. Nagi asked the party shop to help and decorate on the day of his dad’s birthday so that it can get properly done. Iorin wonders if it’ll look pretty, Tamaki wonders the same. They animatedly talk about the party as Nagi laughs at their excitement. He cooes at them a little as they all walk hand in hand.

 

“Oh, how much do I have to pay you, Nagi?” Tamaki asks but Nagi only quirks an eyebrow at him.

 

“ _ Pay me _ ?” Nagi asks back, Tamaki nods. It causes Nagi to laugh loudly, it surprises the two kids. They wonder what was so funny about Tamaki’s question. They didn’t understand Nagi sometimes. Maybe it’s just a foreigner thing, they both thought to themselves.

 

Nagi stops and explains that Tamaki doesn’t have to pay him. He’s fine with helping Tamaki with the party. Tamaki rejects the answer as soon as he hears it; Nagi is shocked at the immediate. Tamaki goes on about how it’s important to pay for the labour people go through to make things happen. He didn’t want Nagi to go home penniless. Nagi was definitely taken aback by Tamaki’s anger. He didn’t expect the younger to react in such a way.

 

“Where did you learn this, Tamaki?” Nagi asks.

 

Tamaki explains how he read it from a script Yama-san left on his dining table when Tamaki came over to play. Yama-san had to read it out and sounded really cool to Tamaki, he had a serious look on his face. Nagi nods as he seemed to have gotten an idea of how Tamaki turned out that way. He couldn’t really blame Tamaki because he  _ wasn’t wrong _ , people can get paid for the amount of work they put in a job but this wouldn’t really be considered one of them. He still understands the thought behind it, though.

 

Nagi sighs and says his payment is three cups of pudding.

 

Tamaki agrees to the payment as they make a detour to a convenient store. They buy three cups of pudding with a couple of drinks. Tamaki was proud that he bought it all with his own money. Nagi thanks him for the payment as they sat outside and ate their puddings happily.

 

“Ah, why isn’t Ichi, Tama, and Nagi?” Yama-san calls them out.

 

All three of them greet him happily as Yama-san laughs at how they look like a trio of children. Nagi accepts it as a compliment for looking young while being close to his mid-twenties already, Yamato laughs at Nagi’s humour. Tamaki and Iorin ask what brings Yama-san to the convenient store.

 

Yama-san points at a group of people holding long poles with mics at the end and camera; he’s actually working. Tamaki looks at the group funny and asks why Yama-san work with so many people. Yama-san explains that it’s not  _ just _ him. There are other people who are working with him so they need a lot of people to make sure things go smoothly. Tamaki and Iorin nod at the explanation as Tamaki offers a bite of his pudding to which Yama-san takes graciously.

 

“What are you guys up to anyway?” Yama-san asks.

 

Tamaki invites him to his dad’s surprise birthday party. Yama-san looked surprised by Tamaki throwing a surprise birthday party for his dad. He was especially proud by how Tamaki took his own initiative to arrange one; Tamaki was happy with such praise. Yama-san accepts the invite and wished he could help but his job makes him work overtime. It’s a little taxing but it seems Yama-san enjoys it.

 

“You should quit then,” Iorin says.

 

“ _ Huh? _ ” Yama-san looked confused when Iorin tells him. He seemed even more surprised by how blunt Iorin was at relaying it even.

 

“That’s what  _ Niisan _ always said; if they make you work overtime and makes you feel miserable, quit your job.”

 

Iorin’s bluntness can be considered next-level sometimes. Even Tamaki doesn’t know how to respond to it sometimes. Nagi and Yama-san look at each other before trying to come up with an explanation of what Yama-san means by working overtime. They had to explain to Iorin that Yama-san works at different times of the day everyday. It’s not always a fixed time; his schedule varies from time to time. He’s working overtime because he needs to film for a night scene; it’s not because he’s miserable and is forced to work overtime by his boss. It takes Iorin a while to take it in but he gets it.

 

They bid Yama-san goodbye after finishing their pudding and Yama-san gets beckoned over by a coworker.

 

As they walk to the apartment, Tamaki wonders how he’ll send an invite to other people. He doesn’t know  _ everyone _ that his dad knows so he can’t do much. He asks the other two for help but they also are unable to help. Trying to invite people has always been difficult because no one is sure how many they should invite. 10000? 100? Tamaki can never be sure. He slumps a little at that thought; he’s got everything done except the invites.

 

Once they arrive home, they meet Tamaki’s dad all worn out from work.

 

“Tamaki?” His dad calls him out.

 

Tamaki looks up to find his dad looking at him in worry. His dad asks Tamaki why he looked so sad; Tamaki sniffs as he explains that he doesn’t know any of his dad’s friends.

 

“ _ My friends _ ?” His dad asks in confusion, he looks at Nagi for an answer but he’s unable to get anything out of the blond.

 

Tamaki continues rambling about how he doesn’t know his dad’s friends or how to  _ even contact them _ as his dad lifts him up. His dad reassurances him that he can contact them through his dad and laughs at how worked up Tamaki seems. Tamaki bids Nagi and Iorin as he gets carried home by his dad who asks him how his dad was. Tamaki explains to his dad as he holds onto his dad tightly.

 

When the 28th arrives, Tamaki tries to wake up as early as he can. He rushes off, telling his dad that he promised Iorin something and will be back as soon as possible. He hears his dad warning him to be safe as he quickly dashes to Iorin and Mitsuki’s house. He arrives at the knick of time as Mitsuki was locking up and about to head to the booked venue with Iorin; they talk about how Nagi was already decorating the place.

 

Tamaki wonders what time did Nagi arrive.

 

They arrive at a decorated private function; it was covered in shades of purple. Flowers that Tamaki never knew the name to, in small white vases at tables with streamers and balloons around the room. Big  _ Happy Birthday _ balloons hanging at the center of the wall as you enter the room, Tamaki was so happy at the sight he tackled Nagi in a big hug. He thanked Nagi for helping him out.

 

“It  _ kind of  _ looks like a wedding,” Mitsuki jokes.

 

Nagi agreed but that in itself was ironic, they laughed as Tamaki and Iorin watched catered food get rolled in by other people. There was a huge assortment of food but it didn’t quite stand out as much as Mitsuki’s cake; it stood tall and big. A 3-tier cake that stood tall with pretty marble-like design. Tamaki had to prevent himself from wanting to take a bite out of the cake. Not yet. Not until his dad see how big of a party Tamaki and his friend threw for him.

 

It seemed the adults helped get guests to reach the venue safely, Iorin helped out too. He helped to attend to guests who were lost; the Nanase twins too. Those three were always helpful, Tamaki thought. As more people came, Mitsuki told Tamaki to go get his dad as it was almost time to start.

 

Tamaki nodded and headed back home.

 

He came back to his dad idly reading a book with a hand propped under his chin. His dad greets him and asked what was the promise he made with Iorin. Tamaki mentions how he wasn’t  _ that _ big, it was just returning a toy. His dad narrows his eyes at Tamaki.

 

“ _ Oh really? _ ” His dad asks, skeptical of Tamaki.

 

Tamaki nods nervously. He tells his dad that he wants him to go somewhere but he has to wear something. His dad quirks an eyebrow but agrees to it regardless. Tamaki puts an eye-mask on him and tries to lead his dad out of the apartment. They, as careful as possible, slowly go to where the rest are. Tamaki holds his dad’s hand tightly as his dad asks him where they’re going.

 

“Somewhere special it seems,” a voice says.

 

His dad flinches and attempts to immediately attack the source of the voice.

 

“Daddy, no! It’s just Yama-san!” Tamaki makes it clear to his dad who sighs in relief. Yama-san laughs and says that they’re going to the same place so Tamaki doesn’t have to worry about getting lost or anything. His dad mumbles about how he thought that Tamaki was tricked into leading his dad to scary people who would kidnap Tamaki immediately if he didn’t obey. Tamaki looks at his dad strangely as Yama-san questions his dad if he had been staying up late watching criminal dramas.

 

Once they arrive at the booked venue, Tamaki asks his dad to pick him up. With some help from Yama-san, his dad was able to.

 

“Can I take off the eyemask?” Tamaki asks.

 

His dad gives him permission to do so.

 

“ _ Happy Birthday! _ ”

 

Sougo is greeted by the light and the sight of a party. The people he loves all smiling at him in a room filled with all sorts of decorations, food, and gifts. He had no idea what was happening but  _ Tamaki did _ .  _ Tamaki always did _ .

 

Tamaki gleamed at him.

 

“Happy Birthday, Daddy!” Tamaki greeted him with the biggest smile he could make.

 

Sougo thanked him and everyone happily. He felt like crying because he didn’t know this was happening at all; he had been so busy that he didn’t realise his son was planning something behind his back. Usually, he’s sharp enough to pick up hints or Tamaki attempting to hide something but this time, he couldn’t at all. It was good that he didn’t. Even if he did, he wouldn’t think that it was for such an occasion.

 

“Let’s eat then.” Sougo felt awkward as he was swarmed by friends and neighbours wishing him happy birthday as he ate and laugh. They were showering him with so much love, he really didn’t know what to do. He saw his friends laugh at how surprised he looked. Sougo admitted that he didn’t know he could be fooled by a 6-year-old. He was slightly embarrassed by such a thought.

 

Tamaki shook his head, though.

 

“You already knew!” Tamaki says, smiling.

 

Sougo asks what he means by that; Tamaki explains how he already told Sougo the plan last year when they were still playing at the facility. Sougo didn’t think Tamaki could remember such a distant memory. Sougo definitely didn’t until mentioned. It surprised how Tamaki was right, he did mention throwing a birthday party for Sougo; it would have party streamers, balloons, and cake. He mentioned how it would be the best birthday party Sougo would ever have  _ and he was right _ . This birthday really was the best one yet.

 

When it came to finally blow the candles and cutting cake; Sougo asked Tamaki to join him.

 

They blew the candles together as the cake was distributed by the help of Mitsuki. Tamaki laughed and told Sougo that he chose the cake flavour. Sougo was surprised by how much work and thought Tamaki put in hosting a birthday; although, he knew that it wasn’t  _ entirely _ Tamaki. Mitsuki, Nagi and maybe even Yamato were on it as well. They always made sure whatever Tamaki was planning, possible. He thanked them for that.

 

At some point, the party slowly unwinded.

 

“What’s the best gift you got?” A friend of Sougo asks as his friends look at him in curiousity. He had gone through all the present and was surprised by all of the things people gifted him but if he were to put  _ the best _ label on something, it would take him a while to figure out. He enjoyed the pans that one of his coworkers bought him since he did mention wanting to buy new ones. He also enjoy the books some of his friends bought. But none of those were  _ exactly the best _ .

 

He beckoned Tamaki over.

 

With a forehead kiss; Sougo tells his friends that it was Tamaki.

 

_ “I don’t think I’d want anything else but Tamaki and his many surprises.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sougo calls Tamaki his greatest gift bc that's true, he is Sougo's greatest gift haha  
> If you didn't see the irony in the decorating portion, Mitsuki and Nagi find it a little ironic that Sougo's birthday party decorations reminded them of a wedding when Sougo himself isn't interested in marriage.  
> Honestly, stuff like that happens often which in itself feels ironic haha  
> I hope you had fun and thank you for reading!


	8. Bad Colds & Good Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamaki gets every parent's nightmare; a fever.  
> Sougo spends a few days in pure panic as he learns how to treat fevers that are on children.  
> It's a little tiring but he gets by.  
> Even then, he still needs help being sent his way _(which isn't always a bad thing)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hi!  
> Grossnoona here. It truly has been awhile since I updated this!  
> Today, I wrote a sick Tamaki chapter!  
> I've actually been working on another chapter but forgot to finish this as well lol  
> so here it is!  
> I hope you enjoy it!

“ _ Achoo! _ ”

 

It echoed through the hallway of their apartment.

 

“ _ Achoo! _ ”

 

The sound of a crash and a yelp will come along with it as well.

 

“ _ Achoo! _ ”

 

Sougo’s biggest nightmare has become a reality; Tamaki has gotten a fever. He has been grumbling all morning about it; complaining to Sougo about how cold everything seems and how uncomfortable he feels. Sougo did not waste a single minute as soon as he felt Tamaki’s body temperature; up Tamaki goes in Sougo’s arm as he rushes out of the apartment door to the clinic.

 

He was obviously overreacting, Sougo knows that. It’s just hard not to feel worried over your child catching a fever; it feels like the world was going to end as soon as you hear a wail come out of them. Sougo has every right to feel that way when he feels a tight hug from Tamaki’s tiny arms. Sougo tries to calm Tamaki down even though it serves as a way to calm himself rather than Tamaki.

 

“It’s just a small fever; he’ll most likely get over it in a few days.” The doctor prescribed medicine and handed a treat to Tamaki as Sougo nodded intently at the doctor. She smiled reassuringly, noting that Tamaki will be fine and that there’s nothing urgent to worry about. Sougo thanks her for it.

 

Being sick; that is something Sougo can say with utmost confidence that he is extremely familiar with. In fact, he is so familiar with it, Mitsuki loathes him for it. Sougo is the type to overwork himself so much that the flu becomes a bad fever. Though, Sougo kind of believes that adult fevers and children fevers are different. Somehow growing up, fevers were always the plague. They make you feel warm and sweaty as a child. Sougo recalls having a hard time staying awake, wanting to stay close to his caretaker and having a hard time eating because nothing felt right.

 

As an adult, fevers were considered the small unbothered aspects of life. Sougo would take a couple of pills, stuff some medical items that’ll help him go through the day and be on his merry way. Not exactly responsible but sometimes you might compromise your health for work. That is something Mitsuki has long stopped Sougo from doing. Sougo would remember hearing Mitsuki aggressively make soup in the kitchen as Nagi strolled over with Iori prepped up to avoid contracting the flus. He really can’t imagine a life living without them, really.

 

Tamaki, surprisingly, handles his fevers like Sougo. He still woke up in the morning, talking about going to school as he stumbled to the bathroom. Sougo had to pick him up from attempting these things. Warning him about overworking himself as Sougo tucked him to bed, Tamaki would grumble a little before heading back into bed. Handling him with tasks definitely served as a challenge to Sougo. Trying to stop a tiny 6 year old from doing ridiculous things without supervision took a toll on him a little.

 

Stopping Tamaki poised as a difficult challenge, feeding him was a whole different level.

 

“No!” Tamaki will say every time Sougo would try to feed him porridge, arms crossed with cheeks puffed. He grumbled and complained enough about the doctor’s disapproval of Tamaki eating pudding during his fever. He also threw enough tantrums about not being able to quite taste anything. In terms of eating, he really was in perpetual discomfort which proved to be a horrible thing for someone like Tamaki who enjoyed eating. Sougo, as well, was in a perpetual discomfort and that was due to the fact he couldn’t find anything that could satisfy his poor son.

 

After half a bowl of porridge and three tries of feeding medicine, Tamaki finally settles into bed.

 

Sougo slumps onto the couch, praying to anyone up in the heavens to lend him strength. Taking care of a sick child just proved to be the biggest obstacle of parenthood that Sougo has ever faced. Probably the biggest obstacle in general. Sougo has gotten into a lot of situations yet this was scarier than any of the other situations he’s faced. He wonders why? Maybe it’s because this is a living person that Sougo is dealing with. Not some sort of inanimate object that Sougo can simply replace. This is someone Sougo truly cherishes and cares for. The immense weight on Sougo’s hands feel terrifying and yet he sees parents and caretakers do it flawlessly. They’re quick to act in helping, they don’t freeze like a deer in headlights and rise of panic at the sound of a child’s whimper.

 

“Parents and caretakers are heroes,” Sougo sighed as he shuts his eyes for a while. He can clean up later. He can eat later. He can work later. In fact, he can do everything later. All he needs right now;  _ is a goddamn nap _ .  _ Oh my god, he needs a nap so bad right now _ .

 

Sougo wakes up the next morning, arms sore from sleeping folded across his chest and neck sore from resting against the sofa the night before. He immediately leaps out of the couch when he realised it was the next day; earning him a bit of a headache as soon as he stands up straight. He stumbles a little to some vague direction. He isn’t quite sure where he’s heading, actually.

 

He hears the doorbell ringing.

 

“Ah, coming coming.” Sougo yawns as he stumbles to the door.

 

Sougo opens the door to find Mitsuki looking at him in complete worrying, mumbling about how he was right in leaving such a person like Sougo in charge of a child. Sougo rubs his temples a little as he unlocks the gate for Mitsuki.

 

“You’re lucky, I have good instincts.” Mitsuki walks in as Sougo stretches and continues to yawn.

 

“I thought I had everything under control and then,  _ I just conked out as soon as Tamaki went to bed _ ,” Sougo tried to reason himself. He was really serious about having  _ think he had everything under control _ but that turned out to be the very opposite. With a less foggy mind, he could tell he didn’t quite have everything under control.  **The apartment was a mess** .

 

The living room was scattered with blankets, pillows, and toys. It looked extremely unkempt; everything was in disarrange. From the books on the coffee table to the floor that resembled almost similar to a minefield in terms of spiky toys that Tamaki left on the floor from the day before. Sougo would consider it a miracle that he did not even feel a wince of pain this morning, stumbling around the living room nor did he feel it last night when he crashed onto the couch. Or maybe he did, he just was too tired but he was too tired to feel it properly. Who knows really.

 

The kitchen wasn’t much better; dishes left in the sink untouched, stains on the table from the spilled medicine and piles of tissues everywhere. Whether it was used to clean up Tamaki’s messes or his snot, Sougo can’t fully recall. Either way, the kitchen was in disarray with all of those utensils and plates everywhere yet Sougo was just too tired to even bother thinking of cleaning.

 

Sougo kind of believes the only clean room in this apartment was his own bedroom that he left untouched. Mitsuki snorts and agrees that that was most likely the only clean room in the messy apartment.

 

“It’s kind of funny, you’re like  _ the most kempt person _ in this building yet right now, you look like  _ one of the sloppiest _ ,” Mitsuki jokes as he helps clean the living room. Just as Sougo tries to help clean up as well, Mitsuki smacks his hand away and tells him to go take a bath. He goes on about how Sougo needs to freshen up before he even remotely stands anywhere near Tamaki. Sougo tries to object but receives no response at all.

 

Sougo sighs as he heads to the bathroom. However, he still checks on Tamaki who was soundly sleeping in his room.

 

Taking a bath after a whole day of taking care of Tamaki and his flu was a luxury, he felt relaxed as he sunk into the bathtub. He really needed a bath before heading back into the living room; he just needed to destress.

 

Sick children are always a big challenge. They don’t like the weird feeling nor do they know what’s going on. Sougo understands how they feel, it’s a terrible feeling. Sougo isn’t annoyed by Tamaki’s antics per se, he’s just tired and drained from taking care of him. A part of him feels bad for feeling tired but another part of him, vaguely sounds like Mitsuki, tells him that it’s only natural that Sougo feels tired from taking care of someone. Taking care of someone is a lot of work.

 

Once he’s ready, Mitsuki had cleaned up the living room. Sougo thanks him as Mitsuki calls this situation a small problem. Sougo follows Mitsuki’s orders by telling him to clean the kitchen while Mitsuki prepares breakfast. They talk about work and taking care of kids while preparing breakfast. Mitsuki complains how if Iori gets sick, Nagi would too. Taking care of a sick child is already a handful, taking care of a sick child and an adult is twice as hard. Nagi would attempt to go to work without telling Mitsuki and that leaves Mitsuki dragging him by the ear, nagging him about contaminating staff members and coworkers. Sougo laughs as Mitsuki groans about how clingy Nagi gets which leads to Mitsuki possibly contracting the flu as well.

 

They hear tiny footsteps and grumbling as they laugh about more bad sick habits.

 

“G’mornin” Tamaki greets the two adults, rubbing his right eye a little as he clings tightly to his comforter that surrounds him from head to toe.

 

Mitsuki laughs at the sight as Sougo greets him back. They ask him how he’s feeling and he makes a scrunched up face. It definitely implied that he doesn’t feel so good but judging by his complexion, he’s a little better than yesterday. That felt relieving to know that Tamaki was getting better. Sougo sighed happily as Tamaki climbed onto a dining chair with the entire getup he had on.

 

Breakfast served the same struggle from the day before; feeding an unpleased Tamaki. Sougo sighs at Tamaki who has turned away from him after trying to get him to eat more porridge. Mitsuki tries to coax him as well. Asking him to eat a couple of more spoons then he’ll be done with his meals. Tamaki begrudgingly agrees to but then starts asking if he has to still eat the medicine. Sadly, the adults tell him he does.

 

“I don’t want to, it tastes gross!” Tamaki protests in his chair as he sticks his tongue out in disgust. Sougo and Mitsuki can’t blame him for this protest;  _ children medicine always tastes gross _ . Sougo isn’t quite sure what goes in the minds who make children medicine but it never tastes like whatever flavour the package states it is. It isn’t quite _ that easy  _ to swallow like adult medicine but that might be because, by the time you reach adulthood,  _ whatever that taste is _ in children medicine, you had gone used to. Downing pills had always been easier than downing in liquid medicine honestly. Mitsuki might agree on this fact too.

 

They spend a long while trying to convince Tamaki that if he doesn’t eat his medicine, he won’t get any better. Sougo tells him he won’t be able to play with Iori if he stays sick, it made Tamaki slightly unsettled that being sick was a bad thing. Mitsuki asks him if he wants to stay hot and sweaty forever in his life and that leaves the poor six year old perplexed. He shakes his head and downs the medicine given to him. He curls his tongue out, squeezing his eyes shut as the medicine goes down his throat. He immediately downs a glass of water as soon as he finished the medicine.

 

“I hate it.”

 

“I know, it tastes horrible,” Sougo replies as he pats Tamaki’s head. He watches Tamaki head to the couch and curl on it as Mitsuki joins him to watch TV. As Mitsuki distracts Tamaki, Sougo goes ahead in cleaning up the table and probably he can sneak away to  _ finally go do work _ . Ever since Tamaki got sick, Sougo had his hands full in caretaking so his work was left unprogressed ever since the night Tamaki grumbled about his fever.

 

Sougo manages to get rid of a portion of his work thanks to Mitsuki’s help. Not long after Sougo began doing his work, Mitsuki strolls into the study room to inform that Tamaki had passed out on the couch due to the medicine earlier. Sougo thanks him again for helping out, Mitsuki replies it really was no problem.

 

“Taking care of kids alone is hard, you need all the help you can get.” Mitsuki leans against the wall as he continues to tell Sougo how he should get help when he really needs it. He’s aware that Sougo doesn’t always need help in raising Tamaki; in fact, it’s amazing how Sougo has managed in raising Tamaki alone up till now. Even then,  _ there are definitely moments that Sougo should have asked for help _ . Mitsuki really doesn’t want to scold Sougo in midst of work but he just hopes Sougo gets help when he needs it.

 

Sougo nods in agreement. He really should have called Mitsuki to ask what he should do when Tamaki gets sick, ask Yamato to watch over Tamaki while Sougo goes through work and all of that but yet he didn’t. Mitsuki has a point; it really is crazy how Sougo managed to go through in raising Tamaki alone so far. It’s crazy in a bad way and a good way. He tells Mitsuki to not feel bad for scolding Sougo on his rather stubborn ways because he has a valid reason to. Sougo really needs to start relying on others even if it feels stupid to just carry all of these burdens on his own.

 

Mitsuki smiles proudly; stating how proud he is of Sougo being able to take care of Tamaki and  _ actually take in advice _ unlike the Sougo from a few years ago. Sougo laughs and agrees how the Sougo from a few years ago was very much different; he was stubborn, ruthless and a little insistence in his ways. It must’ve been a handful to deal with such a person.

 

“Thank you, Mitsuki. You’re always looking out for me, I feel bad for making you worry all the time.”

 

“Don’t be. Without you, I wouldn’t have anyone to share these auntie gossips with. Yamato is too much of an old man to talk with and Nagi doesn’t live here,” Mitsuki jokes.

 

They hear the doorbell ringing, Mitsuki mentions how it could be Iori and Nagi dropping by.

 

_ It was more than that _ .

 

It seemed some of Tamaki’s friends had decided to drop in, just to see if Tamaki is alright. Nagi and Iori amongst them, Mitsuki goes to greet them as Sougo checks on Tamaki’s temperature. They all stumble in and ask how Tamaki has been doing; Sougo answers how Tamaki has been doing alright and is getting better.

 

“ _ That’s great! _ Iori can play with Tamaki when he’s all better then,” Nagi notes as Iori smiles and nods in agreement.

 

The twins from the floor below, Riku and Tenn, ask how Tamaki caught the fever since Sougo doesn’t look sick at all. In fact, the only bearing resemblance between the two was the fact Sougo was pale. Though usually, Sougo takes his rather pale complexion as a compliment, from those twins, Sougo felt a little insulted. Sougo could only give a suggestion that Tamaki might have caught it from a friend from school. Though, Sougo isn’t entirely sure.

 

“Maybe it’s from the weather; due to the weird fluctuation between rain and heat, some of my coworkers got sick.” Yamato chimes into the conversation. Nagi seems to be asking if it was  _ Gaku _ that Yamato was talking about, the older only response with a shrug before stating that  _ Gaku _ was one of them. Sougo can’t say Yamato’s theory was incorrect as that seemed plausible too. Regardless, Tamaki got sick. That was all to it.

 

Sougo offers lunch to the group of guests who agree to stay. They all settle into the apartment just fine. Sougo didn’t need anything to entertain them as they wait patiently for lunch. As some of the group had gone off to explore Sougo’s collection of books or anything that might entertain them, some offered to help make lunch with Sougo.

 

“Osaka-san, how should I cut these carrots?” Tenn asks as he holds up a carrot, Sougo asks him if he wasn’t up for flower-shaped carrots then just dicing them in triangular shapes were fine. Tenn nods and runs off to find space to cut carrots. Sougo seemed surprised by how insistent the older twin in helping Sougo while the younger agreed to be Iori’s playmate instead. The two of them are always helpful but the two of them are always doing two different jobs rather than one. Maybe it was for efficiency or maybe it was because they aren’t good at the same things. Sougo thinks it’s both, to be honest.

 

Sougo thinks Tenn is very skilled with his hands.

 

Perfectly cut vegetables are stirred into a pot; all shaped differently. Some resemble flowers or other objects while others neatly diced. Sougo thanks Tenn for his help as the other smiles softly in response before joining his brother and Iori.

 

Tamaki wakes up just in time for lunch.

 

“Am I still dreamin’?” Tamaki asks as he rubs his eyes, apparently not believing that his friends came to visit him.

 

“Do you want me to pinch you just to check?” Tenn mischievously asks as Riku gasps at his brother. Iori exclaims how Tenn shouldn’t do that as the others laugh at the exchangement. Sougo chimes in how he isn’t and that it really was true that his friends had arrived to the apartment to check on him.

 

Pleased to hear such news, Tamaki smiles brightly at the sight of his friends before climbing down from the couch with his comforter dragging behind. Just as he was about to join the others to play, Sougo swipes in to pick up Tamaki. He gets told to eat lunch before playing, he grumbles before agreeing as his friends were settling at the dining table.

 

A group of friends made feeding Tamaki easier, he gets too excited in talking that he doesn’t actually care what goes in his mouth. He gulps it all down without noticing that Sougo had snuck in a couple of extra spoons of food just to make sure he’s eating properly. Sougo is glad that Tamaki finishes his bowl of food for once instead of eating half of it.

 

Medicine still serves as an issue.

 

It’s  _ actually twice as hard _ because Tamaki’s protest gets doubled by Iori and Riku who apparently hate eating their medicine too. Sougo sighs as he watches Tenn noogie Riku in the head for encouraging Tamaki to not his medicine as Iori gets explained why eating medicine is important. Regardless, Sougo’s pleads fall on deaf ears as Tamaki shakes his head. Feeding medicine to a child really is difficult.

 

“Do you  _ even know what happens _ when you don’t eat your medicine?” Yamato asks Tamaki who nods.

 

Tamaki begins to explain that if he doesn’t, he’ll be sick forever. Yamato nods and states that is correct but he’ll still have to eat medicine to keep the sickness under control. If he  _ really didn’t eat medicine _ , Yamato goes close to Tamaki and whispers the answer.

 

Sougo doesn’t know what Yamato says but it makes Tamaki grab Sougo’s hand and shove the spoon of medicine into his mouth. Tamaki downs it in one huge gulp and begins to drink the water quickly; so quickly that water drips down his throat and wets his clothes. Whatever it is, it definitely left quite a mark on Tamaki. Poor boy, Sougo thought.

 

He ought to scold Yamato one day for constantly attempting to instill fear on his poor son.

 

The fever really was dropping as time went by, he got better at responding and playing with others. Sougo was glad at that, he watched from the dining table as Tamaki pretended to use his comforter as a cloak in some play pretend game that Riku and Tenn had orchestrated. Sougo felt warm when he saw the entire scene play out.

 

“Is he going to school tomorrow?” Nagi asks. Sougo nods in response, if his fever is low enough he can go back to school.

 

The past few days were hectic for both Sougo and Tamaki; stuff was going everywhere, neither of them were quite satisfied and everything just kept going the opposite direction unlike planned. It really was a relief to have people like Mitsuki to rely on once in a while. It felt like being visited by an angel of some sorts who instead of serenaded Sougo into relief, smacked him back into his senses and help him. He really would have died midway taking care of Tamaki had Mitsuki not came up from his apartment to help him.

 

Once the day was over, Tamaki excitedly asked if he could go back to school. Sougo checked his fever before giving him the green light to go back to school. It seemed he missed playing with his friends; it was pretty evident in how he reacted to everyone’s sudden appearance. He was so excited at the sight of having friends over.

 

The next day, Sougo nearly overslept. Tamaki has been climbing onto his bed, trying to wake up his dad so they wouldn’t miss school. Sougo wakes up with a bad headache, it’s kind of difficult to process anything when he feels really warm all of a sudden and everything becomes too much to bear.

 

“ _ Oh dear _ , you caught Tamaki’s fever?” Nagi asks at the front door. He happily agreed to send Tamaki to school along with Iori but it did seem concerning to see Sougo’s poor state. Sougo tries to shake off the concern and talk about how he might have to arrive to work late.

 

Sougo gets protested by Tamaki again. This time, he scolds Sougo for wanting to go to work. He tells him how he’s gonna infect his entire office if he goes to work with a bad fever. Iori shows his agreement on the same level of passion. Nagi laughs at the sight and says that Sougo should go to the doctor instead.

 

Sougo spends the day in bed, work left untouched and nothing but soupy warm food and medicine to comfort him during these sickly hours. Sougo really hates this fever, it stops him from doing everything. It stops him so much that Tamaki is staying over at Mitsuki’s instead of coming home until Sougo’s fever goes down enough. It really is lonely to be sick.

 

He wakes up to the sound of people preparing dinner in his kitchen, he makes his slow way to find Tamaki trying his best in cooking dinner for his dad with the help of Mitsuki and Iori. His eyes staring intensely as he tries to chop vegetables with his butter knife. His tongue stuck out a little to show that’s how focused he is. It makes Sougo laugh a little at the sight.

 

Yamato spots him and tells him to go back to bed. Probably so Tamaki can excitedly wake his dad for dinner rather than Sougo to walk into this  _ secret _ dinner. Sougo begrudgingly agrees and slips back into his bed. It’s better to sleep a little more anyway, he probably is too unwell to even keep up with a conversation.

 

Tamaki wakes up his dad with a hug and a kiss. He tells him that it’s time for dinner and that it’s a  _ get well soon _ dinner. His dad laughs at Tamaki as the younger takes him by the hand and guides him to the dining table.

 

Dinner tastes warm and gingery, Sougo enjoys it. It’s spicy in a less painful way in comparison to his usual large chili consumption. Mitsuki must’ve prepared it in such a way to satisfy Sougo’s spicy cravings, Sougo thought to himself as he ate another spoonful of porridge. He listened to others talk about their days. Namely, Iori and Tamaki were filling in the space with class stories as Sougo nods intently to their stories. Yamato and Mitsuki occasionally asking the credibility in some of their stories as Nagi gasp in shock at the odd details.

 

“Oh! Daddy, there’s good news! Good news!” Tamaki started exclaiming, trying to catch his dad’s attention. Sougo nods to cue the younger into telling him exactly what was the good news alas it didn’t quite get to him as Tamaki continued trying to grab his dad’s attention instead of telling him.

 

“Yes, you can tell me,” Sougo tries to say without having a coughing fit. Tamaki makes a quick worry face before replacing it with more excitement. Sougo reassures him that he’s fine, he just has a bad cough. He urges the younger to tell him the good news.

 

Tamaki readies himself and looks at the others for permission. They seem to be onto something  _ as usual _ . Sougo will always be the last one to know. It surprises him that even  _ Banri _ , Tsumugi’s coworker, would know more about Tamaki’s plan than he does. It wonders how many surprises plans the six year old has up his sleeve.

 

“Yama-san invited us on a holiday! We can go to the beach when daddy gets better!” Tamaki smiles brightly, he seems to be in complete excitement. He tries to explain where exactly they’re going but it doesn’t quite work out as Tamaki didn’t really understand some of the things Yamato was explaining. Sougo laughs as Tamaki kept going back to Yamato and trying to confirm if he was conveying the right information to his dad. It was even funnier to see Yamato try to prompt that  _ he _ could explain but Tamaki refuses, wanting to be  _ the one to tell his dad _ the good news.

 

Sougo doesn’t see the harm. Summer holidays were coming soon; what harm could there be in wanting to spend a couple of days out of town?

 

Sougo agrees to the invite and makes it a promise to make sure Tamaki has a fun holiday. Tamaki rejoices and promises to help Sougo to heal as soon as possible! That way, the trip can begin soon. Iori asks Yamato if they should bring the twins along, Mitsuki and Nagi wonder if there’s a way to ask their parents if it’s even possible. Yamato snorts and states he’ll have to check their grades before confirming if they’re even able to be invited.

 

As much as Sougo is happy to see Tamaki and his friends rejoice, Sougo and Mitsuki share the same painful sentiment about the holidays.

 

_ Tamaki and Iori’s holidays only begin in another 2 weeks. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of ginger in porridge is good for you but boy can it taste pretty spicy lol  
> Also, spicy food like chili isn't good for you when you're really sick. Don't consume lots of spicy food when you have a fever even if it helps unclog your nose lol (has tried it)  
> I hope you can wait a while before I upload the beach chapter!  
> Regardless, thank you for your patience and support for this fic!  
> It really makes me happy to know that people like this dumb au!


	9. Groceries Lists & Shared Interests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tamaki and Sougo go grocery shopping!  
> Together, they encounter things they didn't expect.  
> Sougo wonders if Tamaki will spout anything strange, today too.
> 
> Maybe, maybe not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update and thats bc I've been doing other things (as you can see from my other updates)  
>  _But_ I did managed to finally fit in a new chapter!  
> I'm so sorry I couldn't finish it as planned, I was busy with other stuff and I really wanted to make the beach chapter fun so it's being rewritten a bunch of times lol  
> I'm also _really sorry_ that this is a little shorter than the others!!  
> This time, they're grocery shopping!  
> I hope you enjoy it!

Grocery shopping isn’t difficult, Sougo would always say.

 

Those are the few times Tamaki manages to get what he wants without creating a fuss. They’re always simple things like pudding, cookies and other sugary confectionery that Sougo wouldn’t really want to stick in his mouth had a tiny hand been feeding him. Tamaki would usually be on his best behaviour so he can earn those things. Though he isn’t very good at being on his behaviour,  _ at least he tries _ .

 

Pushing the trolley, Sougo gets Tamaki to read out their grocery list.

 

“Cereal! Bread!” Tamaki reads aloud, he points in the general direction of the aisle. Sougo hums along as Tamaki aimlessly talks about the stuff he did at school the other day. Right, school ends this week and Yamato has  _ yet to confirm the plans _ . He wonders why, maybe he got too caught up with work, he had forgotten about it? Though, Sougo doubts such a thing. Yamato is surprisingly good at keeping track of his schedule despite his rather unkempt appearance.

 

Maybe he wasn’t planning it to be immediately the first week of summer.

 

After all, just because the kids are out of school doesn’t  _ exactly mean the adults get the same treatment _ . Most of them are still working. Sougo sighs a little at the thought as Tamaki reads aloud the next thing on the grocery list; Milk.

 

“Can we get chocolate milk,  _ please _ ?”

 

“You want a whole carton of it?”

 

Tamaki nods,

 

Sougo tries to explain that chocolate milk doesn’t exactly go well with everything. It can go well with cereal, cookies and some sweet sandwiches but it’s not something Sougo is tempted to try with hamburger steaks, meatballs or even just having it with lunch or dinner. Tamaki hums in understanding. Tamaki talks about how he didn’t really think that far. He tries to imagine having a glass of chocolate milk while eating spaghetti. It feels like too much for Tamaki’s tummy, Sougo laughs at his son’s concerns.

 

Tamaki can be a really funny kid when he’s thinking hard about something.

 

“Oh? Is that Sougo-kun or have my eyes decided to fool me?” A voice calls out for Sougo.

 

Turning around, he finds a co-worker; Tsunashi Ryunosuke. Timid and kind as always, Ryunosuke laughs sheepishly as he greets the Osaka family. Tamaki immediately notes that Ryunosuke as the guy that Yamato sang loudly with during Sougo’s birthday party which causes the other cough in embarrassment. Sougo tries to apologise for Tamaki’s sudden retelling of such an incident. Ryunosuke only laughs and admits that Tamaki is right so there isn’t much of a worry for such things.

 

“You have brothers?” Sougo should have known, honestly. Ryunosuke has always been a wonderful senior for Sougo, it only made sense for him to be an older brother. Tamaki excitedly asks Ryunosuke what his brothers are like, Ryunosuke happily obliged as the two continue their shopping. Sougo was amazed by how happy Ryunosuke was when he started to talk about his brothers. It was a surprising sight to see.

 

Ryunosuke must love his brothers a lot.

 

“I think I treat them the same way you treat Tamaki,” Ryunosuke laughs.

 

Sougo asks why, tilting his head a little. Surely, his brothers aren’t that far apart from him or maybe Sougo is wrong. _He_ _did mention having a big age gap from them_ , it wouldn’t be surprising if they’re actually pretty far apart from age.

 

“My youngest brother is graduating high school next spring,” Ryunosuke laughs.

 

_ Oh _ , that’s a big age gap. Ryunosuke must be working hard to be a good example for his brothers. Sougo wonders what his other brothers are doing in college, Ryunosuke laughs and states how one of them wants to look after the family business. A good son, his dad will laugh wholeheartedly though his dad will always support his sons through everything. Sougo smiles softly at how much love Ryunosuke has his family.

 

It was honestly amazing to see how pleased Ryunosuke looked, just talking about his family.

 

For a small moment, Sougo does feel a thin line of jealousy. 

 

A part of Sougo wishes he could talk about his family the same way the older does. He talks about his family with so much love and care, wanting to prepare the best dinner when they arrive at his house from their flight. He’ll take good care of them, smother his three younger brothers with the utmost love. Talk about how much he’s missed them, conversing about how things are like at home. Sougo wants that kind of family love too. He can’t help but feel a little jealous over his senior, being able to love those who have raised him into the kind man he has become today.

 

“Like what Daddy does when he comes back home!” Tamaki exclaims all of a sudden, Sougo flinched a little.

 

Ryunosuke laughs and agrees; just like Sougo when he comes back.

 

Sougo tries to get back on topic, he didn’t realise how hard he was thinking till he sees Tamaki puff his cheeks and scolds Sougo as hard as he can albeit isn’t very threatening. Sougo laughs and fakes his mercy towards his son who always laughs when Sougo brings his face close to get a kiss on the cheek. He really does feel sorry for being out of it, though.

 

“Tamaki-kun was comparing my love for family to your love for him.”

 

_ Ah _ , is it really like that? Sougo hadn’t really thought of it that way.

 

Tamaki nods happily, Sougo really does love him the same way as Ryunosuke. Tamaki started telling Ryunosuke the things that Sougo does as soon as he gets home; Sougo starts preparing the best dinner Tamaki had ( _ he notes about helping out too! _ ), smother Tamaki with the utmost love, talk about how tired he is but how happy he is to play with Tamaki at the end of the day and tuck and kiss Tamaki’s forehead when they head to bed for the night. Sougo laughs at how much Tamaki can talk about Sougo to Ryunosuke who listens happily. Ryunosuke calls Sougo a good father, Tamaki agrees wholeheartedly.

 

“When I grow up, I wanna be like Ryuu-aniki!”

 

“ _ Ryuu-aniki? _ ”

 

Sougo and Ryunosuke looked at each other in confusion when Tamaki nods. There’s a bit of lack of formality in that nickname, very different from Tamaki’s usual nicknames for adults. Though, he does lack of formality with Mitsuki, referring to him as only by his name and nothing more. Sometimes he’ll slip up and call him  _ Niisan _ like Iori but even then, he takes it in stride and continues with his sentences. Maybe Ryunosuke was considered Banri level?

 

“Yea, like Ban-chan level!”

 

Ryunosuke looks twice as confused from before. He looks at Sougo and asks what does  _ Ban-chan level _ mean.

 

“Oh, well, it’s when Tamaki thinks you’re everyone’s big brother!” Sougo tries to explain as simple as possible. He tries to further explain how Banri is a man that helps run the apartment they live in, he’s a very kind man that loves entertaining Tamaki when he has the time. Sometimes, it goes to the extent that Tamaki will help him with his work although it’s never necessary but Banri enjoys the company.

 

Ryunosuke laughs and accepts that kind of compliment graciously. He calls it a real big one; one that he’s never heard before. Tamaki smiles brightly and tells him that he’ll work hard to be a good person like Ryunosuke.

 

Just like that, they bid Ryunosuke goodbye.

 

Tamaki talks about how Ryunosuke is different without Yamato around. Sougo is assuming it’s probably because when he was with Yamato, they were  _ definitely drunk _ but Sougo doesn’t tell Tamaki that. Sougo just hums along with Tamaki as he wonders what made him so different from today, they play guessing until Sougo feels like  _ it’s time _ .

 

Sougo  _ finally lets him choose his favourite snack _ .

 

Tamaki gets down from the trolley, quickly trying to find his precious  _ Ousama Pudding _ . Sougo laughs as he pushes the trolley, following Tamaki from behind. Surely, he’ll try to convince Sougo that he can finish those big tubs of pudding that he keeps finding. Sougo doubts every single time, Tamaki may think he’s a bigger eater but he isn’t really. Sougo wonders why, it’s been more than half a year and yet Sougo can’t quite figure out why Tamaki doesn’t eat enough. Sougo always ends up making a slightly smaller portion than a regular child’s for the sake of Tamaki not feeling guilty for not finishing his food.

 

Sougo should probably consult someone about this, he thought. He couldn’t rely on Mitsuki this time as it also left the older puzzled. At some points, even Iori eats more than Tamaki. He could always call his mother but he doesn’t know if she’s willing to help. Sougo sighs a little at the thought of it.

 

“Ah!” Tamaki exclaims.

 

Sougo finds Tamaki looking in shock at another boy, not quite far from his age, holding onto what could be the last pudding off that cold shelf. The other boy looks at him confusedly, telling him rather boldly that the pudding was now his. Just as Tamaki was ready to fight for a small cup of pudding, it seemed the other boy was scooped up and scolded for picking a fight in the middle of grocery shopping.

 

“Sorry, Haru’s a bit of an idiot.” The teenager throws the kid over his shoulder and tells him to properly apologise, Haru scoffs and says a meeked out apology.

 

Just as Haru is told to give the pudding back to Tamaki, Tamaki shakes his head.

 

“Eh? Why not? He stole it from you, didn’t he?” The teenager asks, Sougo guesses that could be Haru’s older brother though he isn’t entirely sure. Maybe, it is. Sougo is just guessing by how he’s treating the little boy.

 

“ _ He took it first _ , he can have it.”

 

The teenager quirks an eyebrow before shrugging. He can’t tell Tamaki to take it so he lets Haru keep the pudding, they apologise once more before heading back to their parents. Tamaki waves Haru goodbye who only gives him a scrunched up expression and a small wave. Sougo laughs and asks how Tamaki suddenly became mature.

 

“I used to give my pudding to my younger siblings,” Tamaki says rather casually, picking up a different pudding brand; one that Sougo doesn’t entirely recognise.

 

Right, Tamaki acted like a big brother back in the facility. He’d call them his brothers and sisters, reading them stories before bed, sharing toys and desserts whenever he could, taking good care of them. Tamaki was only like that because he was told to, Sougo would let him throw tantrums and start getting really bratty just because Tamaki never quite could. Sougo sees Tamaki sigh a little.

 

“Are you sad for not getting the pudding?”

 

Tamaki shakes his head, he likes this brand too. It’s an off-brand, probably one of the ones Tamaki ate when he couldn’t get  _ Ousama Pudding _ back then. Sougo pats Tamaki and calls him a good big brother for letting Haru have the pudding instead of taking it from him. Tamaki smiles brightly at Sougo’s compliment.

 

“Maybe we can start making our own pudding,” Sougo notes as they start paying for the groceries.

 

Tamaki nods happily at that thought, he wants to make his own flavor too! Sougo wonders what kind of flavors Tamaki wants to try. Tamaki ponders for a moment as Sougo loads the groceries into the car.

 

“I wanna try pudding flavored pudding!”

 

Sougo laughs and asks if there are any other flavors he wants to try to make.

 

“What about chili flavor! That way Daddy can enjoy pudding too!”

 

“I think Mitsuki-san will say you lost your goddamn mind.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryunosuke became Sougo's co-worker instead of his higher up (as I originally planned) lol  
> Ryunosuke finally made his appearance!  
> So has two other people! Haruka and?? someone lol  
> Speaking of appearance, I've spoken about Banri three times (I think) but he hasn't made a single appearance, right?  
> I should probs get to him before Gaku lol  
> Thank you for reading this chapter!  
> Hopefully, I can get the beach chapter up before I go off on holiday and die in school orz


	10. Unforeseen Outcomes & Astonished Guests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plans always go wrong somehow-- _that_ is something you cannot control. No matter what.  
> The beloved beach trip has met some obstacles but it has also met with some surprising outcomes!
> 
> One of those obstacles; Sougo finds himself thinking about his entire journey of being Tamaki's father so far.  
> It has been a little over half a year and it amazes Sougo that he is still part of Tamaki's life and that he hasn't gone bald from stress yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe grossnoona here  
> long time no update (seriously)  
> I was supposed to upload this in late august but I forgot :c  
> weather here has been bad so obviously this has gone through _a lot of changes_  
>  I wanted to write a fun beach chap but I couldn't, I'm so sorry  
> so instead, I just wanted to reminiscence a little on how far Sougo has gotten in this au!!  
> pls enjoy!!

_ “It rained!” _

 

It did. Sadly so. Sougo was a little worried about the weather that day. Everyone was too caught up in the excitement that they failed to realise the rather windy and cloudy weather. Sougo doesn’t blame them, it was only natural that the rush of excitement to cloud their worries. Though just as they were ready to head to the beach, a roar of thunder came rolling.

 

Indicating the poor group that it’ll rain.  **_Heavily so_ ** .

 

Tamaki, Iori, and the Nanase twins seemed rather bummed out about it. They flopped onto the floor, Tamaki already whining how unfair the weather was. Tamaki and Iori have been waiting for this holiday trip for weeks! It was unfair that it got ruined by unfavourable weather, they whined and whined about it to Yamato who sadly cannot control the weather. The twins weren’t in a better mood either, at least they have decided to resign to their gaming consoles, probably playing some sort of video game that Sougo is vaguely familiar with. Though, it seems their intense playing has attracted Iori and Tamaki’s attention. Maybe they recognise it better.

 

“Ah! Tamaki, don’t pull my arm! I nearly lost!” Riku exclaims as he tries to reposition himself so Tamaki can see better. Despite Riku’s initial annoyance, it seems he was starting to enjoy Tamaki’s cheers. Like an excited cheerleader, Nagi notes as Tamaki shouts in glee at Riku winning some sort of battle. Tenn didn’t seem as pleased and asks for a rematch as Iori hangs on his back.

 

Well, they seem to be getting along. Sougo doesn’t have to worry much about them throwing a fit about the change of plans. Though, this trip really did not turn out as well as planned. First, the twins had to beg for permission from their parents to join the trip. Then, Yamato had to apologise profusely because work kept piling up. Traveling as a group may sound swell in theory but it isn't when kids are involved. Tamaki and Iori weren’t as happy as usual in the morning, they were clinging tightly to Sougo and Mitsuki respectively, Tenn and Riku also sought comfort in the form of Nagi who was surprisingly wide awake that early morning. Now, the weather wasn’t taken quite a liking towards them. What a shame, Sougo thought as he watched the rain poured.

 

“ _ Yappi _ ”

 

_ Yappi? _ Sougo turns around and finds a tall man with silver hair, shades obscuring his face a little. Sougo doesn’t quite recognise the man but it seems Yamato does. Who was this man? Is he a colleague or a friend? Sougo can never properly guess Yamato’s list of friends.

 

“ _ Yaotome _ , I thought you were trapped in your father’s basement,” Yamato jokes at Yaotome, a rather crude joke in Sougo’s opinion. It seems not only Yamato was familiar with him, Nagi too. Nagi was already climbing onto the other man’s back despite the little height difference between the two. In comparison to Yaotome and Yamato, Nagi looks infinitely younger than them. Though that just proves the junior label Yamato manages to slap on him all the time. Beyond that, Sougo can’t help but think Yaotome looks familiar.

 

“ _ Ah,  _ **_Yaotome Gaku_ ** .” Sougo’s voice a little louder than usual, it was said without any consideration. It makes some heads turn but only for a short moment because they do not see what Sougo is seeing. Thankfully enough.

 

That still doesn’t quite stop Yaotome from floundering about with the sudden thought that he was recognized. Yamato and Nagi spend a couple of minutes trying to calm the other as Sougo and Mitsuki watch the entire commotion happen. Do all celebrities act a little weird? Sougo wonders. It reminds him of the first time he met Nagi who unexpectedly gets a little too excited to meet Mitsuki’s precious friend. Sougo vaguely remembers feeling like his arm was going to be shaken off thanks to the tight grip Nagi gave him when they shook hands. Then again, Nagi is unexpectedly excited about a lot of things so he can’t quite chalk it up to that.

 

Yamato wasn’t as peculiar as the other two though. If anything, that celebrity identity of his--it’s just something he treats as work. Outside of that, he’s just the Osaka family’s neighbour who just so happens to hang around them a lot. Sougo doesn’t hate it, he enjoys it if anything. Though, he does wonder a bit about the lack of mention of family members in Yamato’s life. Sougo doesn’t question it, probably finding some comfort in the thought that maybe,  _ just maybe _ , Yamato was similar to him too. Even with that masked up thought, Sougo can’t help point out the peculiarity of such a trait.

 

“I didn’t know you were the type to travel alone?” Sougo hears Nagi ask.

 

“ _ Or _ , perhaps, you couldn’t find someone to travel with,” Yamato jabs at Yaotome again.

 

Those three must be close since Yaotome scoffs and scolds but it lacks a certain amount of bite that could match up to his cold appearance. Mitsuki hums to himself, leaning to Sougo, asking if this is what Yamato is like with his other friends. Maybe. Maybe not. No one can be sure. But if that’s the case, Yamato seems to be all-over the same with anyone he’s close to. Somehow, that thought is rather relieving to hear.

 

“Woah, he looks like Tenn’s character!” Tamaki suddenly exclaims, that obviously attracts attention from the adults. He’s pointing at Yaotome and jumping up and down, talking about Tenn’s character from the video game that the kids were playing. It confuses Yaotome a little but he  _ tries _ to go along with Tamaki, stutteringly nodding along to the influx of knowledge about this character. It makes Yamato laugh at the sight of Yaotome struggling to keep up with a child.

 

Soon enough, it seems the kids were surrounding Yaotome. Tenn awestruck at the sight of a real-life version of his favourite character. He kept glancing up and back down to his gaming console, asking if this was real. Riku nodding along next to him, they were up close to Yaotome’s face as he laughed at the twins for thinking otherwise. Surprisingly charming, Sougo thought as he watches Yaotome go along with the twins’ antics.

 

It seemed that despite the massive downpour that  _ supposedly _ ruined their holiday trip, there was still something to look forward to. The kids found enjoyment in their new friend, Yaotome, who seemed really pleased by the fact the kids liked him. Sougo and Mitsuki found themselves cooing at the sight.

 

“Can Yaotome-san play with us, Niisan?” Iori asks, tugging on Mitsuki’s sleeve. Mitsuki looks up to Yaotome and smiles weakly, hoping that the older could hang with the group for a while as it seems all of the kids have taken quite a liking towards him already.

 

Yamato slings his arm around Yaotome’s shoulders, claiming that it shouldn’t be a problem. Yaotome stutters in his movement a little; nodding as the kids drag him by the hand. Yaotome admits embarrassingly how he’s never surrounded by kids that often so he’s a little awkward and unsure how to act around them but Yamato tells him to be himself and they’ll surely like him. Nagi smiles brightly and claims that all those foolish tricks he pulls on Yaotome has finally paid off because half of these tricks were taught by the kids themselves. Not a great fact to learn for Sougo and Mitsuki but  _ just for today _ , they’ll let it slide.

 

_ Just for today _ turns into the whole holiday trip.

 

They spend the entire trip is spent playing with Yaotome who Sougo quickly learns is surprisingly a little childish and undeniably dense. Sougo also quickly learns that Yaotome is the same  _ Gaku _ that Yamato and Nagi were making fun of during the Tamaki got sick. Not so surprising to learn he’s quite bad at taking care of himself, too used to having a caretaker around Yamato would say as Yaotome scoff at him. They’re good friends, it seems. Sougo wonders how long they’ve known each other.

 

“Too long,” Yamato answers when Sougo asks.

 

Mitsuki leans curiously, wondering how long is  _ too long _ . Yaotome is quick to answer that question as he lifts Tamaki up onto his shoulders; they’ve known each other since  _ high school _ . A surprising and rather scary answer.

 

To know Yamato since high school; that was an answer Sougo could not process so well.

 

“I didn’t know that, I thought you guys were college friends or something,” Nagi says as he cleans up Iori’s face from the cookie crumbs. Yamato sighs and says such knowledge is trivial matter, there isn’t much to talk about outside the fact Yaotome knows  _ way too much _ about Yamato and it irks him a little. Yaotome laughs, stating how Yamato has probably the same amount of dirt on him so they’re  _ somewhat _ even. Sougo nods in understanding, that explains how Yaotome has not gotten mad at Yamato for joking around with him at all.

 

Mitsuki snaps his fingers in a rather comical fashion, complaining about how he was  _ just about to  _ squeeze information about Yamato out of Yaotome. Maybe he should try and get Yaotome drunk so he’ll spell a little easier. Of course, Yamato reprimands the other for trying to get sneaky and blackmail him whenever he strolls around for free desserts.

 

“Free desserts? Rokuya, is this your boyfriend?”

 

“ _ You  _ **_just_ ** _ realised?! _ ”

 

Yaotome is dense. He’s extremely so. Sougo wants to laugh as Mitsuki tries to extract information from Yaotome about what kinds of things has Nagi said about him while Nagi childishly whines about how dense and slow Yaotome can be. Yamato doesn’t save him unlike how he usually is with Sougo who can very much get stuck in similar situations. Though unlike Sougo, Yaotome somehow manages to remove himself from the situation. He apologises to Nagi about the lack of awareness and explains to Mitsuki that he has only heard good things about him. That and if anyone, Yamato  _ solely _ talks about getting free desserts from Mitsuki.

 

“I believe his manager is worried about--” Tamaki calls Yamato a ninja due to how fast he was at smacking Yaotome in the back, saying  _ that was enough chatter _ and how it was getting late. He even helps Tamaki climb down from Yaotome’s shoulders. Whatever the worry was, Yamato did not like it which obviously piques Mitsuki’s interest. Though, he decides to let it go for Yamato’s sake.

 

It seemed today was already the last day and they had  _ yet _ to visit the beach. Probably too busy visiting around the area and laughing at Yaotome interacting with the kids. Sougo has been enjoying the holiday trip, surprisingly. Tamaki had been on his best behavior, always listening well to Riku and Tenn who acted like the older brothers to the younger two. Sougo manages to find more time with the other adults, Mitsuki claiming that it was his well-deserved break after successfully raising Tamaki so far.

 

Today happened to be the day Tamaki, Iori, Riku and Tenn have been waiting for;  _ finally going to the beach _ .

 

Sougo watches them run into the sea and shout in glee about finally having fun. Tamaki and Iori wearing their floaties as they waddle around with Tenn and Riku nearby. It was good that they’re having fun, Sougo thought. 

 

“Out of curiosity--Osaka, why did you decide to adopt Tamaki?  _ Especially _ before marriage,” Yaotome asks, it seems he wasn’t very interested in joining Yamato and the others having fun at the beach. Though, it was probably because he was waiting for a moment to ask Sougo a rather dreaded question that he has gone used to answering. After all, such a question had arrived long before the adoption  _ even took place _ .

 

Sougo laughs when Yaotome apologises for asking such a rude question, he doesn’t blame Yaotome fretting since it is a rather personal question. Sougo takes a moment and wonders why as well. Why did he want to adopt so badly? Why did he refuse to marry so much? Sougo wonders the same. Surely, there was a reason other than he thought raising a child would be a good experience. An early part of him treated Tamaki like something temporary despite him not being temporary at all. It was a rather crude outlook but that definitely wasn’t what the majority of himself was thinking when he played with Tamaki at the orphanage.

 

“I just wanted to raise a child, I think.”

 

Sougo didn’t know how to quite put it. He just wanted to raise a child, that’s all. He wanted to shower a child with love and care. He wanted to raise someone of his own. He wanted to pour the utmost love he had for someone. He wanted to teach someone all the good and bad in the world, holding their hand until they were ready to explore on their own. Raising a child felt like happiness to him for some odd reason. He couldn’t help but explain it in such a way. It was strange but to him, it felt right.

 

“I must be saying some weird things, aren’t I?” Sougo sheepishly says, scratching his cheek.

 

Yaotome shakes his head and exclaims how amazing Sougo was. He didn’t think it was possible to meet someone who cherished his son so much, he was honestly a little jealous. He could never imagine himself raising a child at all. He thinks his short-temper and schedule make him unfit to raise a child, so he has a lot of respect for Sougo. He even asks Sougo a couple of questions about adopting; was it difficult, how long did he have to wait and so many more. A part of him wanted to ask if Yaotome actually wants to adopt but couldn’t bring himself to but he doesn’t because he knows Yaotome thinks he isn’t quite prepared for it yet.

 

“You should be asking Mitsuki about raising kids honestly, he’s been raising Iori by himself since Iori was born.”

 

Yaotome tilts his head in confusion, asking how old Mitsuki was because he thought that Mitsuki was only bringing Iori along for the trip. Sougo laughs and explains how Mitsuki has been raising Iori ever since Iori was brought into the world. If anything, Mitsuki is a rather big senior in terms of raising but even then, there are things Mitsuki is unsure about.

 

“Though, that’s what raising is like--it’s stressful and confusing but you try your best to be kind and calm so that your kids won’t feel bad for making a mess.”

 

Tamaki is a hard kid to take care of but he tries his best to be understanding of Sougo, it’s honestly sweet when he thinks about it. Tamaki doesn’t know a lot which is expected of his age. He isn’t supposed to know a lot yet. Sougo tries not to blame him for making mistakes--it’s normal after all, to make mistakes. Sougo can’t condemn him for not knowing things, for causing accidents and so many more other things that Sougo could easily blame him for but Sougo isn’t his father. Sougo knows Tamaki isn’t a bad kid, he doesn’t know any better half of the time. As long as you try to explain and he understands, there isn’t a need for Sougo to scold and punish his son.

 

Why should he? What is he? Some sort of monster?

 

Yaotome seems to be rather in awe of that train of thought. He laughs a little; his father was a rather cold person so it was only expected that he thought raising a child meant disciplining him harshly. Sougo thought the same, honestly but Mitsuki has never hit Iori and he’s a good kid. Mitsuki only sits Iori down and explain his wrongdoings, never trying to instill fear in the same way most people would. Sougo, honestly, is glad that Mitsuki manages to shake that kind of strict upbringing out of him before Tamaki came into his life. If not, he might have treated Tamaki the same way as his father did.

 

“Kids are tough but you learn a lot from them,” Yamato’s voice cuts through Sougo’s thoughts. He says a thought that Sougo was about to say aloud.

 

Yamato complains about how Sougo and Yaotome looked gloomy as if they had a real hard-hitting conversation that probably opened up a couple of wounds. Yamato won’t ask about them, he swears but he isn’t going to let either of them be sad at the beach. Especially when summer break was already ending, Tamaki would just be worried on the last few days of summer because his dad got depressed. Poor kid, always worrying about his dad in the weirdest way, Yamato jokes.

 

“Aside from that, Tama has been  _ yearning _ for your attention so you better head down there and see what’s up, Sou.”

 

Sougo apologises for making Yamato worried, the older only waves his hand about it. He claims that the worry was only there because Yaotome had a knack in surprisingly carrying big and heavy topics over people’s heads. It’s a bad habit of Yaotome and he doesn’t want Sougo to get the wrong idea, hence the need to rush over. Other than that, there’s nothing much for Sougo to apologise.

 

Summer surprisingly ends quickly.

 

Before Sougo knows it, summer ended. They were already bidding Yaotome before boarding the train. Soon enough, Sougo found himself sleepily unlocking the door as Yamato helps him carry an already sleeping Tamaki to bed. He really ought to thank Yamato for all the efforts he has put into making such a wonderful and memorable trip for his friends.

 

“Nah, it’s nothing. I just thought it’d be a waste to go alone.”

 

“Ah, I see. You really are always so kind, thank you for always helping me.”

 

Yamato smiles softly, pats the younger and tells him to go get rest. School will be starting the next Monday which isn’t a good thing if Sougo keeps spending his nights watching late-night dramas. Sougo whines because that is a true fact but giving up his late-night dramas for a well-rested sleep, that is something Sougo has a hard time trying to do. Yamato laughs before bidding Sougo goodbye.

 

A whole new term of school will start soon, Sougo thought.

 

He flops onto his bed as soon as he manages to shrug any uncomfortable clothing off him. His mind drifts off for a while, wondering a little about how long it has been. Ah, has it already been more than half a year already? Soon enough, it’ll be a whole year since Tamaki has arrived.

 

“My life really changed since, huh..” Sougo mumbles before finally drifting to bed. It’s a good thing, really. Sougo enjoys that it has changed. Well, most of it at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lots of weird pacings ik  
> but! there is some stuff abt the adults now!! yay!!  
> I've been meaning to do a rather adult-centric chap so here's a rather weak attempt at it!!  
> Sougo has come far, hasn't he?!  
> I'm so glad that he has come so far in this au!!  
> Hopefully, soon maybe, I'll upload more chapters!! I'm so sorry for being mia!!!  
> Thank you for reading and supporting this fic as usual!!  
> (If you do want to scream at me or anything for disappearing, [here's my twt](https://twitter.com/drunkossan))

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!  
> I'm soz this is p short but hopefully next time I write for this AU, it'd be longer!!  
> If you realise this has an indefinite number of chapters, it's because I probs dk when I'll figure out the ending of this AU?  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the fic!!


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